Cabin Air Filter

[93ls400walt]

I had started to become concerned about my A/C. Was not blowing out strongly and did not feel very cold. This is an issue here in the desert where I live.

I had new filters sitting in the garage that I bought a few months back when I ordered a few on-line parts.

So last week I was looking for something to do. So I thought of the filters. They were hard to pull out, so I thought something must be wrong. It was, they were so old the case was coming apart. Had to use pliers to pull them out. (Put a newspaper on the floor under the dash you will be glad you did ) The new ones slid right in.

Went for a ride, maybe around 90 degrees with the sun out, I had to turn the blower down to med. because I was getting frozen out. Medium now blows out harder than it was doing on high. And maybe I am delusional but the air seems much colder and has a clean feel on my hand when I hold it in front of a vent. I would have to clean the windshield above the dash vents frequently because a film would build up every couple of weeks.

A big improvement for the time and money.

Walt

[TexasLexus94]

Not sure if I agree about the impact of new cabin filters. A crooked immigrant brake mechanic tried to charge me for new filters last summer, but I told him I had just replaced them. Which I had. So 2 weeks ago, I went to check my filters, and found they were missing. Gee, I wonder who got the used filters in their old Lexus. The most amazing thing is that I also got the printout from the only Lexus dealer here, and it said they had installed cabin filters for the original owner at 60,000 miles. I got the car at 76,000 miles, and guess what-no cabin filters.

Anyway, I just started using the A/C here in Vegas. Installed new cabin filters. Didn't notice any difference on the A/C. I'm just glad the A/C still works. The immigrant had told me the A/C was shot, and it would cost $1,100 to fix it. I told him to get lost. So I'm just happy that it works. You get what you pay for amigo.....If you live in Vegas, avoid Royalty Auto repair.

[Chrissy]

Hi:

I now am the owner of a 96 Lexus LS400 with 94K miles on it. I know the original owner and I have just checked with the Lexus dealer. He sent me the maintenance reports and also told me that this car has been well maintained. He said the timing belt was changed at 88K. It has some little (I Think) issues and one big issue. It needs a paint job! It has been sitting by the ocean for a few years and the side facing the ocean is faded. I asked the Lexus dealer what a paint job would cost and he said 5 to 6 thousand dollars. That's out of my league. Has anyone gone to a good auto body shop and had their car painted? I really don't want to go to a Macco as I heard they don't do that good.

The minor problems I have had so far is the needle on the speedometer stopped working, and then it starts working. I did renew some of your post. One said you could remove and repair it yourself. Was it hard?

The other problem I think I just fixed -don't know how but it now works. We could not roll down the passenger's windows. Where it now appears to work does that sound like a lose wire? Or does this work off a fuse.

Any info you can give me will be a great help. My husband drives a Cadillac and he has been driving the Lexus and says it is a really nice riding car.

Chris

[cjmeyer]

Hi:

I now am the owner of a 96 Lexus LS400 with 94K miles on it. I know the original owner and I have just checked with the Lexus dealer. He sent me the maintenance reports and also told me that this car has been well maintained. He said the timing belt was changed at 88K. It has some little (I Think) issues and one big issue. It needs a paint job! It has been sitting by the ocean for a few years and the side facing the ocean is faded. I asked the Lexus dealer what a paint job would cost and he said 5 to 6 thousand dollars. That's out of my league. Has anyone gone to a good auto body shop and had their car painted? I really don't want to go to a Macco as I heard they don't do that good.

The minor problems I have had so far is the needle on the speedometer stopped working, and then it starts working. I did renew some of your post. One said you could remove and repair it yourself. Was it hard?

The other problem I think I just fixed -don't know how but it now works. We could not roll down the passenger's windows. Where it now appears to work does that sound like a lose wire? Or does this work off a fuse.

Any info you can give me will be a great help. My husband drives a Cadillac and he has been driving the Lexus and says it is a really nice riding car.

Chris

Hi Chris,

Fellow Floridian here.Sorry to hear about the paint fade.Shop around at a few body shops and I am sure you can find one much cheaper than that.My speedometer needle does the same thing as yours.It sometimes sticks and then springs back to life.I have just gotten used to it.Sounds like a short with the windows.

[cjmeyer]

Not sure if I agree about the impact of new cabin filters. A crooked immigrant brake mechanic tried to charge me for new filters last summer, but I told him I had just replaced them. Which I had. So 2 weeks ago, I went to check my filters, and found they were missing. Gee, I wonder who got the used filters in their old Lexus. The most amazing thing is that I also got the printout from the only Lexus dealer here, and it said they had installed cabin filters for the original owner at 60,000 miles. I got the car at 76,000 miles, and guess what-no cabin filters.

Anyway, I just started using the A/C here in Vegas. Installed new cabin filters. Didn't notice any difference on the A/C. I'm just glad the A/C still works. The immigrant had told me the A/C was shot, and it would cost $1,100 to fix it. I told him to get lost. So I'm just happy that it works. You get what you pay for amigo.....If you live in Vegas, avoid Royalty Auto repair.

I had a case of the missing cabin air filter also on my 95!I went to replace it and found that it was missing.No wonder the cabin had a funny smell.I also replaced my girlfriends filter on her 01 Avalon.It was the original filter and it was nasty.I guess they really do make a difference

[DrJfrmLA]

I had started to become concerned about my A/C. Was not blowing out strongly and did not feel very cold. This is an issue here in the desert where I live.

I had new filters sitting in the garage that I bought a few months back when I ordered a few on-line parts.

So last week I was looking for something to do. So I thought of the filters. They were hard to pull out, so I thought something must be wrong. It was, they were so old the case was coming apart. Had to use pliers to pull them out. (Put a newspaper on the floor under the dash you will be glad you did ) The new ones slid right in.

Went for a ride, maybe around 90 degrees with the sun out, I had to turn the blower down to med. because I was getting frozen out. Medium now blows out harder than it was doing on high. And maybe I am delusional but the air seems much colder and has a clean feel on my hand when I hold it in front of a vent. I would have to clean the windshield above the dash vents frequently because a film would build up every couple of weeks.

A big improvement for the time and money.

Walt

I found with both my former GS and ES that changing the cabin filters every 20k or so made a real difference both in the cabin air quality and the cold coming out of the vents. Like you, I found the air coming out the vents was too cold to let blow directly on me for a while after the filter change. My partner's LS has about 18k (yes, it's an '04--we got it 6 months ago with 12.5k on it), so we'll get them changed next oil change. Most owners don't bother changing these filters, and it makes the A/C work harder and shortens the blower and compressor life. It's a pretty cheap investment. My MB S430 has a dust filter and a charcoal filter that has a parts cost of close to $200, so the Lexus filter is an absolute bargain, and you can do it yourself. In a humid climate like I live in, it really keeps the mildew mustiness out of the cabin.

[93ls400walt]

Not sure if I agree about the impact of new cabin filters. A crooked immigrant brake mechanic tried to charge me for new filters last summer, but I told him I had just replaced them. Which I had. So 2 weeks ago, I went to check my filters, and found they were missing. Gee, I wonder who got the used filters in their old Lexus. The most amazing thing is that I also got the printout from the only Lexus dealer here, and it said they had installed cabin filters for the original owner at 60,000 miles. I got the car at 76,000 miles, and guess what-no cabin filters.

Anyway, I just started using the A/C here in Vegas. Installed new cabin filters. Didn't notice any difference on the A/C. I'm just glad the A/C still works. The immigrant had told me the A/C was shot, and it would cost $1,100 to fix it. I told him to get lost. So I'm just happy that it works. You get what you pay for amigo.....If you live in Vegas, avoid Royalty Auto repair.

I agree that you prob. would not notice any difference since you did not have any filters in. My point is that my filters were so clogged that the air flow was very restricted

[93ls400walt]

Hi:

I now am the owner of a 96 Lexus LS400 with 94K miles on it. I know the original owner and I have just checked with the Lexus dealer. He sent me the maintenance reports and also told me that this car has been well maintained. He said the timing belt was changed at 88K. It has some little (I Think) issues and one big issue. It needs a paint job! It has been sitting by the ocean for a few years and the side facing the ocean is faded. I asked the Lexus dealer what a paint job would cost and he said 5 to 6 thousand dollars. That's out of my league. Has anyone gone to a good auto body shop and had their car painted? I really don't want to go to a Macco as I heard they don't do that good.

The minor problems I have had so far is the needle on the speedometer stopped working, and then it starts working. I did renew some of your post. One said you could remove and repair it yourself. Was it hard?

The other problem I think I just fixed -don't know how but it now works. We could not roll down the passenger's windows. Where it now appears to work does that sound like a lose wire? Or does this work off a fuse.

Any info you can give me will be a great help. My husband drives a Cadillac and he has been driving the Lexus and says it is a really nice riding car.

Chris

The switches sometimes get dirty contacts. They can be removed and cleaned. Sounds like this may help if the issue returns. Do a search on speedometers for info on this common prob.

[AD_DIGITAL]

Hi everyone, I own a 93 LS400, i want to change my AC filter as my blower does not throw the air properly and sounds loud, but i dont know how to access the filters.

Can anyone plz post some pictures or any URL to this DIY article OR atleast some instructions on how to change the blower filter?????

thanx in advance

[Blake_batonrouge]

Does the 91 LS have air con filters?

[TexasLexus94]

Cabin air filters started with the 1993 models, I believe.

[Jerry Bransford]

I just ordered a new Wix cabin filter for my 2003 LS430 since my wife started complaining about the 'Replace a/c filter' message on the dash that pops up when starting the engine. Will replacing that filter reset that message so it doesn't come on any more or is resetting it a dealer-only thing?

I'm mechanical but are there any hints on replacing it? I think it's behind one of the glove box doors, does it just snap in and out?

[TexasLexus94]

AD-DIGITAL

It is very simple to replace the cabin filter. Sit in the front passenger seat, and right where your knees nearly hit the dash, remove the cover below the glove compartment that is obvious by a large joint. Just use a flat screwdriver to carefully pry the top of the cover that is held in place by 3 backside clips. Then carefully bend the cover down, and pull it off the lower 2 clips. Easy. Then reach under the dash, and find the 2 wingnuts that hold the air filter support in place, and remove them. Pull off the support, and voila! you feel the bottom of an air filter. Then simply pull it down, and you will have 2 connected old small filters in your hand. Installation is simple, simply push the new filters into the plenum-they only fit one way, then repeat the reinstallation of the filter support and cover.

Best of luck. Oops, remember to make sure that the footwell light is in place in the cover, too.