Change your cabin air filter!

[DWR.]

ditto. look for high silicon content in your oil analysis...I think the big problem with k&N is they need to be pretty dirty looking for them to work at collection particles and when they are working they look bad so people clean them....

Adding to your comment, the only reusable filters I’ve found that work and don’t have diminished filtering are foam type, if you can find of of those, I recommend them.

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[RobHB392]

Seems like I have to change mine every 10K miles. I start getting a musty smell out of the HVAC and order a new one. The old one looks fine when I take it out, but the smell goes away immediately. Makes me wonder if having the cabin air filter installed is actually a good thing?

 

[jellis4148]

I change both every 25k unless heavy use like Moab.

 

[Vinman]

Unless you always have the top and doors installed and never drive with the windows open having a cabin filter is completely useless. All it does is make the hvac system less effective and put additional strain on the blower motor

 

[Vinman]

Just had another thought for those who complain about the lack of defrost on the windshield. I wonder if ditching the cabin filter would increase airflow enough to keep the entire windshield clear during Winter months?

 

[LARSONEM]

I blow mine off after every off road trip. With that said, actually you can minimize the amount of dirt and contamination that the filter catches by operating your HVAC system in Recirc or Recirculate mode, especially if you regularly run with the windows up and top closed. That will minimize fresh/dirty air coming into the cabin as interior air is then recirculated.

 

[beachbumm78]

If you use a K&N engine air filter, check the intake tube and throttle body for fine dust. My past experience was that their filters let more dirt in than OEM.

That’s what it seemed to me so I went back to the oem ones.

 

[roaniecowpony]

I blow mine off after every off road trip. With that said, actually you can minimize the amount of dirt and contamination that the filter catches by operating your HVAC system in Recirc or Recirculate mode, especially if you regularly run with the windows up and top closed. That will minimize fresh/dirty air coming into the cabin as interior air is then recirculated.

I try to run windows up, recirc, when behind others.

 

[Terrymo]

I try to run windows up, recirc, when behind others.

The dust on the trails in SoCal is like fine ground wheat flour. Insidiously invasive.

 

[Old Dogger]

Here in the hot Phoenix Summers, I do not use the cabin air filters. They block to much air flow. We need all of the A/C air flow that we can get in our high ambient temps. I also always run it in re-circulate, to keep out the dust. Our other months of the year I use the cabin air filter for the outside air. I replace it every year.

 

[SadRobot]

Here in the hot Phoenix Summers, I do not use the cabin air filters. They block to much air flow. We need all of the A/C air flow that we can get in our high ambient temps. I also always run it in re-circulate, to keep out the dust. Our other months of the year I use the cabin air filter for the outside air. I replace it every year.

Phoenix heat is brutal. I turned my AC on in my jeep for the first time this year just this past weekend while I was in Phoenix.

 

[Heimkehr]

Makes me wonder if having the cabin air filter installed is actually a good thing?

Cabin air filters can be more useful/valuable than we might guess. E.g., when my wife was commuting to the city five days a week, I'd have to change the CAF in her Honda comparatively frequently. It caught no small volume of insects and, critically, also the soot from the diesel buses. The filter would literally be black and ganky. I wouldn't want a gram of that detritus to collect on either the blower motor or particularly the interior of the vehicle.

I'm glad that all 3 of our vehicles have such filters. They're proven to work.

 

[Old Dogger]

Phoenix heat is brutal. I turned my AC on in my jeep for the first time this year just this past weekend while I was in Phoenix.

Yes Sir, very hot. I have resided here for 51 years. I'm very thankful, that the Wranglers have a great A/C..

 

[zouch]

that's ironic!

... Back when I smoked cigarettes I had them changed *way* more often than most people do.

 

[zouch]

after running Used Oil analysis before and after using K&Ns, i'll never use one on any engine i care about again. the amount of Silica (read: sand) found in my oil when running a properly maintained K&N was atrocious.

K&Ns apparently may improve airflow, but do a very poor job of filtration.

We recommend it every 10k in our vehicles. For my JL I put in a K&N so I can reuse it over and over

I have the K&N washable version now.... clean it every other oil change, whether it 'needs' it or not....

All my vehicles now have K&N washable ones - Engine and Cabin, I clean and service them once a year in spring.

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