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Hey Everyone, I just past the year mark with Esmeralda ('08 Passion) and I went to change out the cabin air filter and was amazed at the cost. I did try to get the one by Fram that has been mentioned here in SCOA but everyone seems to be out of stock, so I just made my own for about $2.00. I actually made two out of one house A/C filter. Interesting discovery I found...without a filter in the car's system the air flow will not come out of the dashboard vents. There must be a lever that is moved during the insertion of the filter.
I never compared size, but my vibe has the same filter. I blew it out this my compresor then washed it this dish soap and water. good as new. The vibe filter is big $$$ also.
Mine had a fair amount of what looked like black mold on it......... I'll swallow the cost of a new filter to make sure that is gone for good, or at least 'til next time.
Mine had a fair amount of what looked like black mold on it......... I'll swallow the cost of a new filter to make sure that is gone for good, or at least 'til next time.
What you say looked like black mold was probably the activated charcoal embedded in the filter medium.
There have been a bunch of comments about mold-like stuff on the filters. It's many opinions, not just this one. It could very well be the carbon, but I'd think somebody would have identified that more certainly by now.
Activated charcoal wouldn't be on the fresh air side of the filter, with the same texture and appearance of mold. I've seen black mold, cleaned it off of flat surfaces, and didn't have any confidence at all of getting this completely out of, or off of, the filter. Just a guesstimate, but if it was mold, then the filter performed it's designed task, and kept whatever it was out of the passages buried deep in the dash. Not a bad outcome.
It's supposed to be changed once a year, or every 10,000 miles, and the Wix 49351 that actually fits costs about $30 - not worth DIY'ing for me. - sheureka
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