Air Filter: Cabin Filter Fabrication
 

CREDITS: This article was written by a dedicated Scion Life member. Please let out rbloedow know if this article was helpful to you!

DISCLAIMER: Scionlife.com does not take any responsibility in what you do to your car. This FAQ could be filled with incorrect information. You could be voiding your warranty if not installed by a certified mechanic or dealership. It is quite possible that you can totally mess up your car by using this as a guide to install anything. This can result in serious bodily injury, death, dismemberment, sexually transmitted diseases and so forth to you and anybody else in case of an accident resulting from failure to take safety precautions and/or following the instructions in this write-up.

Getting Ready:

Instead of getting ripped off at your Toyota dealership for their filters, just make your own! This mod isn't model-specific, the glove box on the xA should come off in the same matter.

Tools Needed:

Home air filter, preferably one that filters out pollen and dust and with wire mesh supporting it.
Scissors
Duct tape

Instructions:

1) Clean out your glove box.
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2) Look on both sides of the glove box, you'll see a small peg on each side holding the box in. Put some pressure on one side, that side of the glove box should pop out, then proceed with the other. The bottom stays on via a simple hinge. The box should be out now.
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3) Remove the filter tray by pressing the tabs on each side of the tray.
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4) Cut your filter to size, You should be able to get at least 4 filters out of one large filter. IF you can find one that has a charcoal layer, get it. The charcoal will filter out smells from the air - I couldn't find one at Lowes or Home Depot, though. I settled on a 3M Filtrete filter for 14 bucks. After cutting the filter, make sure you tape up the sides without cardboard. Be sure to ensure that the filter medium makes good contact with the tape, you don't want any holes where the air can bypass the filter. I didn't have any duct tape, so I settled on electrical tape. When you insert the filter in the tray, it'll need some coaxing and bending to fit correctly. Ensure that there are no gaps around the filter. Store the rest of the large filter in a closed area, away from dust.
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5) Reinsert the filter into it's cabin. When reattaching the glove box, make sure the box's bottom hinges make contact with their notches first, then with a little force the two pegs should pop back behind the dash.
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6) Enjoy your clean air!

Great DIY Project
 

The first time I read through the post I thought "Great, when my filter needs replacing, this is what I will do" I did not realize that the tray is delivered empty!

Thanks for the great tip. Filters from Toyota are $20 each.

Custom Cabin filter
 

.... One weekend when I was saiting for my dealer to take care of one in a series of three oil changes I went for a walk to the local hardware store, and just looked around. One of the things that I remembered that I wanted to do was put a cabin filter in my xB. I was going to get the dealer unit, however I have a severe sinus problem at times, and the stock filter is just not going to handle my needs. I went looking for filter that would handle dust, and smoke as well. I found that I could get one that exceeds my needs for about $20.00. I cut to fit and taped to match, then on my way home I noticed how much of a difference it made. It took all of about 15 minutes, but I also had a phone in the middle of it too.
Anyhow I just thought you all might want to know that if your cabin filer is still not working the way that you want to, then maybe you need to get one that handles smoke, and dust.

Dino.

i made my own today out of a peice of filter media from my fish tank and about 15 bounce dryer sheets. it works awesome a really freshens the car up. just gotta see how long it lasts now. :wink:

bounce sheets thats awesome lol.

Bounce sheets....
 

Does it give a much softer ride now? :lol:

Re: Bounce sheets....
 

on a more serious note....does it clean the air or just freshen it?

and are the bounce sheets a perfct fit ur do u have to cut them?

Jeff

good find.i have the same prob with a funky smell..imma definitely get a good filter..anybody recommend a specific one? links?

Filter
 

Toyota filters cost about $20 each. The preceeding FAQ was to use a standard furnace filter.

i just made a cabin filter for my xa following these instructions. it's so easy to do, i don't see why anyone wouldn't do this.

air filter mod
 

Hi,

GREAT suggestion !!! Would NEVER have known about this one....

I used 4 fabric softner sheets 2 on top, 2 on bottom.... In between I used 2 fish tank filters (baggie style about 3.5 inch x 7 inch) in which I poured in a small bag of activated charcoal (included in each box for each filter element) and then stapled the seam closed (took about 8 staples or so).

I fit the filter sandwhich into the filter frame by hand.

Then reinstalled per instructions and put it back together.

Man will my wife be happy !!! She is a fabric softner sheet fan !!!


Dave

im in the computer biz and a soft filter like fome comes with the mother borad(for packing) thats what i used cut it to fit. i might try the fabric softner in there also, its like a free air freshener.

I made mine a few days ago for about $5 bucks, I got a medium grade filter from Home Depot. They also have small carbon inserts you can buy for air purifiers, baby room air cleaners etc for a few bucks. Luckily the girl who rang me up couldnt find the price so I got it for free! I do have one question though. I put it in and it works great however I was wondering which direction the air flows in that space, does it come up from down below or does it come from up top through the engine bay? This will allow me to know which way my air filter should face. Thanks

First of all, props to rbloedow for this great post!

I ran straight to Wal-Mart after I read this thread at work. I was about to buy a filter just like the one he showed in his pics when I saw something that might be a bit easier to install and have all the same pros as his air filter project.

I picked up the WEB ABSORBER. It's an insert made for home a/c units. This filter has an electrostatic filter with an adhesive layer and then an activated charcoal filter. The filter also comes with a black plastic grid and you can trim this filter to fit all size of ducts. I thought this would work perfectly for our filter trays so I brought it home.

Once I got the size figured out, I just started cutting with scissors. I trimmed up the black plastic grid and then layered the filters in order and placed the grid on top. NO tape needed. The tray's retaining pegs on the top of the tray held down the plastic grid. The filter was also thick and spongy enough that it fit like a glove and didn't bulge.

Here are some pics of the supplies and the finished product. I thought it looked rather OEM-ish after I was done!

http://img106.exs.cx/img106/5352/filter28do.th.jpg

http://img143.exs.cx/img143/8799/filter15kx.th.jpg

am i to beleive that scion would sell us a car with no air filter at all? or am i just not reading right at 11:15 pm? if so, i am marching into work tommorrow and having one installed for the full price of whatever toyota charges for this service, lol

yeah , cars havent had filters for years. it's not standard and kinda newfangled.

Scott, what amazes me even more is that Toyota/Scion thinks their $.99 filter is worth $20...

yeah I mean i could get paying 10.00 but 20? they're smoking some mighty good stuff.

checked two walmarts and neither had this item , damn.

they're smoking some mighty good stuff.[/quote]

Yeah.. but the filter takes care of the smoke and smell
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: