In-cabin filter write up plus slight mod

[warhoggie]

Hey guys, found some free time, so I thought I contribute to my favorite forum.


How to changing the in-cabin microfilter...and with a slight "mod" for you brave souls.
All pictures were taken with a Canon Powershot G5 digital camera. Someone broke
in to my apartment, and stole the Canon D30. It's ok...Canon 10D is on the way!

As always, do this on your own risk. Altimas.net and I are not responsible for
your screw-ups. Although this is an easy job, and it's in your
owner's manual under section "8-22: Maintenance and do-it-yourself".


You really don't need any tools for this job, maybe a pair of scissors or razors for the "mod".



First you'll need to stop by your friendly neighborhood Nissan Dealer.
You'll need to buy this nice box. The ALL...NEW...2004...
Nissan Genuine parts In-cabin Micro filter box!
But wait! There's more! Inside this box contains...




A hi-tech in cabin micro filter! But wait...there's more!
There's also a free hi-tech sticker, so you can put the date of when you last changed it.
You're probably thinking..."Man! All this will cost at least $60!" No way!
You'll get all this for the low, low price of only $29! But wait! There's more!
If you order now, Nissan will throw in the official "Nissan" word stamped on the side
of this once in a life time collectible filter! Order now! Operators are standing by!
(I'm being sarcastic for those who don't know...I mean dang!!! $29???? It's just
a paper filter!) Any ways, See that red arrow? Yeah, you should stick / glue that
nice metallic tag somewhere, and date it.




Make sure your engine is turned off. You may have to go underneath your glove box to do this,
but I actually just sat in the passenger's seat, and found it without looking.
If you are unsure, just see your owner's manual. The red arrow is pointing to
one of the two pins that is acting as the bottom hinge for the glove box.
You'll need to pull the levers outwards, and gently yank them both out. Make sure you
emptied out all the contents inside your glove box before doing this...trust me on this one.




Here’s a picture of one of the pins, partially pulled out.




Ahhhh...the beautiful hi-tech pins...I'm afraid to ask what's
the price on these babies if I lose them.

[warhoggie]

I've heard some people who claimed you do not need to detach the
supporting string anchor for this job. I did it any way. It’s much easier
to move around without the glove box in my way. The red arrow points to
the anchor that will come off. Gently slide it toward you. If you don't understand it,
just look to the inside of the glove box. It's also better illustrated in the next picture.




Picture of the back of your glove box. See where the green arrow is pointing?
That should give you some idea on how to slide that anchor out. The red arrows
are pointing to where the pins would normally attached to the glove box.




The blue arrow is pointing to the hole where the glove box intercepts together with the pins.
The Red arrow is pointing to the anchor that is attached to the supporting string.
The string has retracted in this picture. The green arrows are pointing to the clips
that you need to pop out. Although it says, "PUSH" on it, you'll actually need
to pull on them to remove the cover.




Voila! After you remove the cover, you can now see the filter.




Notice that the new filter has a plastic spine? See...another hi-tech innovated
engineered design! Also check out the dirty filter...yuck! The old filter
is about a year and a half old. At this point you would normally switch out the
old filter, and put in the new one, re-attach everything, and the job is done.
However I was not content. I understand luxury cars like BMWs and Mercedes have
carbon charcoal built in their filtration systems. This is suppose to help filter
out bad odors, some harmful gas chemicals, toxins, etc. So I decided
Nissan's hi-tech filter needs some work.




Most aquarium pet stores will carry it. ($7 or so) It's 1/4 inch thick, and impregnated with
Active Carbon. Besides filtering water, it's also the same technology
used in military gas masks against poisonous gasses.

[warhoggie]

Cut and trim the carbon pad to the size of the microfilter. You can secure
the carbon pad with rubber cement, thread, or whatever. Just remember not to
block the air flow. I used fishing line (2 Lbs) and a needle.
(Whoa...those Home-ED classes in grammar school finally paid off!)




Remember that spine on the new filter? Well it was a good place for securing the carbon pad.
The pad should be secured tightly to the micro filter, and does not come loose.




Ok! It's finally in. It was slightly snug for the modified filter to fit
inside the well. But a little wiggling and it went in nicely.




When you place the filter cover back on, make sure it engages properly.
When you push on the "PUSH" tabs, you should hear a click. Also at this time,
you should start up your car, and test for leaks from the filter cover.
A little leakage is expected. But if tons of air is coming out,
then you need to re-engaged the filter cover correctly.




If everything is ok, re-attach the anchor with the support string,
and the two hinge pins to your glove compartment.



After some driving around behind trucks, and old buses, the air does indeed smell
cleaner and fresher to me. But honestly, it could just be the new micro filter.
I did not notice any drop in airflow, but there must be with the extra restriction
from the carbon pad. All in all, I think time was well spent.
Probably best for people with bad allergies...or friends who like to fart in your car.



Peace
Warhoggie

[altimateone]

Where you been Bro! been away working on this mod
I thought about putting a carbon pad into my cabin filter before, now I know there's room to fit one. I always wondered what them little levers were for on the bottom of my glove box didn't know they pull out to drop the glove box. I dropped my whole dash area once just to see where the cabin filter was. This is much easyer.

[DesiEGO]

^Nice mod, maybe I should try that too !

[ThaiBruin]

awesome! I think I'll try that next time I change my micro-filter. And it was good seeing you on the 101 the other nite! haha

[tWeEzY]

to be FAQ'd

[warhoggie]

Originally posted by ThaiBruin
awesome! I think I'll try that next time I change my micro-filter. And it was good seeing you on the 101 the other nite! haha

Hey thaiBruin! Yeah, your ride looked sweet with 'em HIDs.


Altimateone, yeah I been out of a job for almost 4 months. It's tough in the I.T. business right now. I may have to change fields.

The night I saw ThaiBruin, I was actually coming back from an job interview in Oxnard. Weird...I got the job...and was suppose to start today. But two weeks later, and at the last minute the dood backs out and said he couldn't afford to hire me. Very odd.
He probably had some trouble letting go his current I.T. person.

Oh well it was too far any ways. 61.6 miles one way. The Job hunt continues.

[TweekersAltima]

LONG time no see!!!! Nice write-up and I may have to try this filtering technique...Did you notice any difference at all, in anything? I'm sure it's better but I was just wondering if there was any noticeable difference. Good luck with the job man.