It never fails to amaze me when I see this

[flyfishvt]

Everytime I swap out a cabin fllter. This is what mine looked like when it was still in the car. That is the actual junk I pulled out. HOLY COW!!! I have air flow now

http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab304/ljpotterm/DSCN0969.jpg

[EastBmw]

Amazing haha

[DEATH2000]

I first saw that and my brain was unable to comprehend what that stuff was for a few seconds... Need sleep...

But good to see you replaced it!

[motion]

It's also good practice to remove the auxiliary fan and insure the area between it and the heat exchangers are clean of debris. Just my .02

[fun2drive]

The dark crap is normal but the other stuff looks like some kind of leaves or pine needles. I see this crap in my E93 when I park it outside under some trees when I have no choice. But it is a cake walk compared to our E36's. I hate removing that filter because at least to me it is a huge pain...

[ChuckDizzle]

Everytime I swap out a cabin fllter. This is what mine looked like when it was still in the car. That is the actual junk I pulled out. HOLY COW!!! I have air flow now

http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab304/ljpotterm/DSCN0969.jpg

looks just like mine did. After starting my headgasket, I was able to get to the blower motor and spent half an hour vacuuming that area of pine leaves and junk too.

[dano670]

Mine looked bad but never that bad. My mustang has a cowl vent in the hood under the windshield, like the M3 does, but it is bigger because the air flow is driven by air pressure. Under the dash on the driver's side there is a lever that allows that air to get in a car. The lever controls a tube that is looks like a 6 inch diameter coffee can with a big throttle plate type plate. I had never used it because I got the car in winter. Well one day I got out in the interstate and remembered I need to open that valve. I look down and pull the lever and phooomp! I was hit was a wall of mice droppings and mice nest in my face. There should have been a plastic grate on the end to direct airflow, but mine was missing. I thought I was going to get the plague from inhaling all of those mice turds.

[inevitable08]

hey fly how many months was the filter in for?

[flyfishvt]

Probably close to 10 years. The guy I bought the car from had it for 8 years and he kept great service receipts. No record of him changing it. Now that it's a new filter I've got about twice the air flow

[E36B1MM3R]

Yea im doing mine this friday or weekend, whenever the filter shows up at my house. Will post pics of mine, has not been done in the 5 years ive owned it, maybe never.

[low36]

I did mine a few months back. Be grateful you didn't find dead rodents in there....

[E36ic4Me]

Nasty. :eek:

[fahdyehia628]

i think i'll be doing that soon

[bimmerrob10]

dreading doing mine but im sure it way over due

[CHobbs59]

dreading doing mine but im sure it way over due

Same here. Don't think has been changed for 160k!

[2slow4u]

How do you remove this? I've been able to reach it from the passenger side but i can't figure out how to remove it

[RandomJF]

233k KM, and it wouldn't have been changed once.

I dread it.

[flyfishvt]

How do you remove this? I've been able to reach it from the passenger side but i can't figure out how to remove it

First thing is look at my old filter. You'll see that it has 3 sections. Your new one will be solid but it will have places to bend it into those three sections.

Second is there is a rectangular splice panel on the left behind the glovebox. This gets in the way and needs to be lifted up then out of the way.

Third is you have to remove the plastic air duct at the bottom of the space that houses the glovebox.

Fourth is to remove the filter access cover and vacuum out the crud thats in there. I used a regular vacuum and I duct taped a piece of 1/2" clear tubing I have from work. A normal crevice tool probably wont fit very well and most of them are too short to reach all the way accross the face of the filter.

Fifth is once its vacuumed out there is a small tab on the end of the filter. Push/pull that tab towards the engine and slide the filter out. It takes a bit of menouvering but it comes out. Even if you have to break the frame to slide it out.

Sixth is to use your new crevice tool and vacuum out the entire cavity the filter goes in. If you don't chances are the new one will hit some of that debris and it wont go in correctly. You can tell if its in correctly because you'll be able to pull that tab back toward the rear of the car and seat it into its proper position.

[inevitable08]

Probably close to 10 years. The guy I bought the car from had it for 8 years and he kept great service receipts. No record of him changing it. Now that it's a new filter I've got about twice the air flow

most definitely, mine was in the exact same condition. I was hoping that wasn't like a year or something cause I am planning on changing it every year or so

[atlantisvip]

Looks like something was making a nest in there.

[318bud]

wow thats crazy i cant imagine how mine looks
i need to get to it! wish it was easier lol