jseabolt Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 When I bought my 2003 Baja new, I picked up an accessory brochure at the dealership. It seemed to say that the cabin filter was an "option". That there was a slot for one but some models did not come with a filter. Well filters actually. I've noticed that the air velocity has slowely dropped off over the years. Sometimes I like to run the dash/floor mode in the winter to warm up my hands and my feet at the same time. Even on the fastest speed, the air velocity is mediocre in this mode. So it's either floor or dash but not both. I'm starting to wonder if there is a cabin filter on my Baja. That would explain the drop in air flow. Mine has 73K miles on it and has never been changed so no doubt it's probably clogged if it has one. I watched the YouTube video of a guy replacing one on a Legacy. Doesn't look like a hard job but a bit time consuming. Just wanted to know if it was worth pulling half the passenger side dash off the car just to see if there is a actually a filter in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 They were an option, and a stupid one at that because they were designed with a bypass hole past the filter where the blower motor resistor goes. They could catch whatever happened to be in the airflow going through the filter, but as they clogged more and more dirt/leaves/pollen would just go through the bypass. You could take out the blower motor resistor and check in its hole for the filters, that might save you taking it all apart for nothing. Vacuuming off the a/c evaporator's finns could help, but it's hard to get in there. It tends to catch debris because it's in the airflow before the heater core. Also check for leaves sticking to the inside of the squirrel cage fan of the blower, that will cut airflow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jseabolt Posted January 18, 2015 Author Share Posted January 18, 2015 Based on the videos I've seen, I think everything still has to be removed just to get to the resistor. Or can the just glovebox be removed to get to the blower motor resistor? I know Subaru had to put the filters somewhere but looks to me like they could have designed it so that the filter slides up vertically behind the glovebox without having to remove anything. Of course Subaru recommends changing these filters once a year. No doubt if someone has done this job several times they could do it in less than an hour, you would still have well for $100 in labor and filters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboobaroo Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 On almost all 2000 and newer Legacy/Outback/Baja share the same box even if it didn't have the filters. Remove the glovebox and surrounding plastic to get the whole glovebox out and disconnect the plug on the resistor which will be pointing straight at you after the glovebox is removed. Then there will be 4 metal clips that hold the resistor plate onto the box, I use a small flathead screwdriver to pop them off. Once the plate is removed you will see a slot where the filters will go. The lower one will come out first, followed by the upper one. The new ones will be marked for the proper direction to install them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jseabolt Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 Well I got around to removing the glovebox today on my 2003 Baja. todat Unfortunately my car came with no cabin filters from the factory. So that hour spent was a waste of time. I did find a bunch of leaves into the box but not enough that would effect air flow. It's not "bad" but not good either. Just seems the performance of the blower motor has slacked off since I bought this car new. The vents on this car have some leaks. Meaning when the floor vent is on, I can feel some air from the vents. Which may indicate the foam rubber gaskets are rotting. There now is this whistling noise coming from the driver's side vent when fully closed. The only way to make it stop it is to crack it open just enough enough until the whistling stops. I can change the frequency of the noise but how my I open the vent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack in Norfolk Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 I'm wondering if my 2004 Forester XT has them. It seems to have all of the options except a sunroof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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