Tuned200 Posted March 29, 2010 Share Posted March 29, 2010 Stupid question. Does the 05 LGT have this filter? I called my parts dept and they didnt locate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhig Posted April 4, 2010 Share Posted April 4, 2010 I did this yesterday and there wasn't even a filter! WTF is up with that? Drunk workers on the assembly line? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt Posted April 4, 2010 Share Posted April 4, 2010 Was there even a spot for one? (I expect not.) Most 2005 Legacies did not come with a cabin air filter. A few did come with a filter, or at least were supposed to. IIRC their VINs were listed in a TSB to make the filter more easily accessible, because even the factory arrangement in those late 2005 builds required taking apart parts of the dashboard to replace the filter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelvrick Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 FYI, I got an email from subaru talking about a $15 instant rebate on the cabin filter installs. My Outback Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcsquish Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 FYI, I got an email from subaru talking about a $15 instant rebate on the cabin filter installs. Even with that I think I'll stick to doing this myself...... I had a dealer do the previous filter then I did the last one and I found several fasteners missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcsquish Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 Stupid question. Does the 05 LGT have this filter? I called my parts dept and they didnt locate it. I know my '05 was a January build and it has a cabin air filter, but I am the second owner and not sure if maybe the original owner had it added somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rporter Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 The cabin filter was an option on '05s. When I ordered mine in late July '04, they already had suspended the installation of the original cabin filter option, as that's the one that took 10 slaves and 2 donkeys a week to replace. The option was suspended when I ordered. Early in '05, it again became available and I had the dealer install the revised kit. Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcsquish Posted April 8, 2010 Share Posted April 8, 2010 Aaaaa, that makes since, thanks. And I wondered why the dealer had the donkeys in the service area, I just was afraid to ask.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rs6er Posted April 18, 2010 Share Posted April 18, 2010 If you think you don't need to replace this, check out what I found: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYtoVT Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 DAAAAMN! Gotta go and check mine now, for real!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spec-B-JY Posted April 26, 2010 Share Posted April 26, 2010 did this on my '06 Legacy today using thishttp://www.legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=827852&postcount=2 and, let me tell you, I couldn't believe how much crud was in there... going to be much easier next time too... Parking outside SUCKS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rs6er Posted April 26, 2010 Share Posted April 26, 2010 True dat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subadozer Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 Amazing that a thread that started almost 6 years ago is still getting action. I just bought an '05 XT wagon and looking for info on the cabin air filter ended up here. After reading this as well as a number of other similar threads I decided this morning to take things apart and investigate if it was worth spending the money on a retrofit kit or the '08 parts. I needed both a print-out of the first few posts of this thread and the official Subaru instructions for their shop people. I couldn't have done it as well with only one or the other. At least for my build date and trim (10/04/leather boot on e-brake) one thing to add to the description for #1. I left the e-brake boot intact and had some difficulty with the pins that hold down the front where it's connected to the shifter area. It was actually relatively easy to get it disengaged but you need to pull the pins (a challenge in itself) and put them in the slots to do the re-install. Once I got it all apart, like others, I found a filter carrier but no filter. It's different than the one shown in the video in that there is no top grid, the filter just lays in the tray. It won't pull straight out due to a metal brace mentioned in another thread but there's enough clearance to get it out without much difficulty. Now for what I think is the most remarkable. As I looked at the back of the glove box back I noticed a raised outline of a rectangle. Comparison to the location of the filter carrier convinced me that this was the exact location for the access hole. Either the hole was there in the die and when Subaru canceled the air filter option in mid-04 they patched it to make a solid panel or probably more likely, since originally this was to be an option, the die makers marked the piece to make it easy for a technician or factory worker to make the hole for the option. I did it on the bench with my battery circular saw and cleaned up the edge with sandpaper in less than 10 minutes. I'm a happy guy, thanks to this forum. It took about 2 hours and I may end up buying the newer carrier with the upper grid but I've saved myself over $100 just in parts and after I buy and cut the filter element I'll have a cabin air filter. And because my model predates having the 3 screws on the right side and the upper brace that also requires 3 screws to be removed, my filter is easier to change than even the models that came with it installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBad Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 Subadozer, do you have any pics of this die area. I am curious. I never noticed it. I have an early 05 too but was eligible for the retrofit kit way back when under warranty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subadozer Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 Subadozer, do you have any pics of this die area. I am curious. I never noticed it. I have an early 05 too but was eligible for the retrofit kit way back when under warranty. No I was so thrilled to find it and anxious to get the thing back together that I made the cut before thinking about taking a picture of it. The outline would be formed by scribing a line in the molding die, which would result in what I saw, a raised line on the back of the part. It resembles a small weld line. This afternoon I picked up the best Filtrete filter I could find. It 's their 1900 performance rating, "Maximum Allergen" and claims to capture odor-carrying particles, which I'm hoping will help a bit with the smoke odor from the previous owner. I cut it up into 6 filters and bagged up 5 for future use. One other nice feature of this particular filter is that it has a wire grid on both sides, which gives it some strength as well as holding the filter to the cut size. I used shear-type sheet metal snips to make the cuts so the wire didn't present much of a challenge. Now that I've got the filters, especially with the wire mesh I don't think I'm going to need that new carrier at all. Net cost for my retrofit $21.17 and that includes 5 spare filters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted May 22, 2010 Share Posted May 22, 2010 You should have use the Absorber available at Target. It doesn't have a frame which makes it easier to cut since it was design to be cut to fit. You can get 6 for approx $12 and it has activated charcoal to help absorb odors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subadozer Posted May 22, 2010 Share Posted May 22, 2010 You should have use the Absorber available at Target. It doesn't have a frame which makes it easier to cut since it was design to be cut to fit. You can get 6 for approx $12 and it has activated charcoal to help absorb odors. You are correct but I was pressed for time and wanted to get this done today. There is a Lowe's close by where I was going to be already and the Target is about the same distance in the opposite direction from home. When I run out of the ones I have I'll try the Absorber. It'll be a good comparison but will probably be at least a couple years with the supply I have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCvillain Posted July 20, 2010 Share Posted July 20, 2010 Well, I just took apart my dash to perform this bit of clean-up since there was a lot of dust in my car. There was NO filter. That explains a lot. What they hell was the guy thinking to take all that apart and not either leave it in to replace. Hoser. Thanks for the write up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subadozer Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 Well, I just took apart my dash to perform this bit of clean-up since there was a lot of dust in my car. There was NO filter. That explains a lot. What they hell was the guy thinking to take all that apart and not either leave it in to replace. Hoser. I think that we have determined that many/all/early/some (one of the above) 05's got the filter holder and setup when they were assembled but never got the access hole or filter element. On the back of the glovebox back I even found the outline of where the hole should have been when I took mine apart. I believe that yours is included in this group and that you are likely the first person to see that empty filter holder since the car was assembled. You will likely notice a difference in the interior dust in your car. I had only had mine for a few weeks or less when I did my retrofit and did notice a difference in the amount of dust on the top of the dash. Well worth the effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awns729 Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 I just picked up a filter from autozone for aroudn $20 for my 07 legacy 2.5i. Will try the absorber next time AFter 43k there was a looot of crap in there, but the smell of hte air isn't any better now strangely lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subadozer Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 I bought the 3m furnace filter that claims to reduce odor. The previous owner smoked and the smell in our car was objectionable. Between occasionally using the small can of spray ionizer, which I sometimes spray into the exterior air intake) and the carbon in the air filter the smoke odor seems to be less noticeable. It didn't hurt the situation either that when I had the console torn apart to install the cabin filter I was able to clean out ashes and a butt that I found underneath as well as pulling the ashtray parts and washing them out in the sink with a pine cleaner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awns729 Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 what does the spray can ionizer do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subadozer Posted July 25, 2010 Share Posted July 25, 2010 what does the spray can ionizer do? The ionizer is supposed to help in eradicating the odors. I don't know the principle behind it but figured that with recirculation the smoke had probably coated the ducting in the car. My assumption is that spraying the ionizer into the air intake with the blower running on full was one way to get it into the system and hopefully lessen the smells. This along with just spraying it in the car according to the directions on the can seems to have helped with lessening the smell. I got the ionizer at Advance and I think it was less than $5. It's a pretty small can but I've used it a number of times, probably more even than the directions indicate, and still have some left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rporter Posted July 25, 2010 Share Posted July 25, 2010 The ionizer is supposed to help in eradicating the odors. I don't know the principle behind it but figured that with recirculation the smoke had probably coated the ducting in the car. My assumption is that spraying the ionizer into the air intake with the blower running on full was one way to get it into the system and hopefully lessen the smells. This along with just spraying it in the car according to the directions on the can seems to have helped with lessening the smell. I got the ionizer at Advance and I think it was less than $5. It's a pretty small can but I've used it a number of times, probably more even than the directions indicate, and still have some left. Go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy a gallon of Denatured Alcohol, and a cheap spray bottle. Soak down the ENTIRE interior, especially the cloth parts (including the headliner), then blot up the excess with disposable rags or paper towels. That will help a lot, and may correct the issue. Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tocinoman25 Posted September 29, 2010 Share Posted September 29, 2010 Did mine today and only took 5 mins =) thanks for the awesome write up this carbon filter only costed $8.96 at walmart... with 40k miles it was pretty dirty...easily saved 80+bucks Follow me on IG @chefodiycarguy and @chefo.soriano Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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