One of the things that is often overlooked in regular car maintenance is the cleaning of the ventilation filter. Most cars have them, and if they aren't cleaned, it can lead to odours from the vents.

Recently I've been noticing a musty smell coming from my vents when I first turn the airconditoning on. It occured to me that in the 4.5yrs I've had my car - I have never cleaned the ventilation filter. So today - that's what I did.

The ventilation filter in the 200sx can be washed and reused, though the technical manual suggests that it can only be washed twice - I dare say you could wash it multiple times without any problem.

To get to the ventilation filter is fairly straight forward.
1. Remove glovebox
2. Remove instrument panel re-enforcement
3. Remove filter cover fix clip
4. Disconnect the thermal amp connector
5. Slide the filter cover upwards and remove it
6. Remove filter
7. Replace with new or cleaned original filter
8. Reassemble filter cover, clip, instrument panel assembly, glovebox.

So first things first...remove the glove box. This is easy. Holding the glovebox in are 2 plastic hinges. These can be pulled out and the glovebox will detach and come put. You will need to get your head under the glovebox to see them.




These are them...




With the glovebox removed, you can now see the cooling unit.




You will want to remove this metal re-enforcement assembly. Simply undo the screws holding it in. There are 2 along the bottom and 4 along the top.




And this is what it looks like when it's pulled out...



You should now have full access to the cooling unit. Disconnect the thermal amp connector (circled in red).




This is the clip you will need to remove to get the filter cover off. Leverage the clip out with a flat head screw driver.






Now you can remove the filter cover.



You might need to do a bit of fiddling to get the filter out - I found when doing mine that a plastic beam (which looks like it's part of the dash) was in the way, and I couldn't work out how to remove it. In fact, I don't think it does come out. So when removing the filter, be prepared to "squash" the filter as you remove it. As long as your careful and take it easy, it'll be alright.

My filter was DIRTY. Here's a pic of all the crap that was caught up in it. Notice how black it is.




Wash the filter in warm soapy water. I had to wash mine twice to get all the dirt out of it. You can see the colour of the water here. Lots of dust/dirt came out of this one.




After the filter has been washed - let it dry properly...the last thing you want to do is put back in a moist filter that will grow mould. You can let it dry naturally or hit it with a hair dryer. I did the latter. Here's my "clean" air filter. I didn't get it prestine white, but it sure is a lot cleaner than it was before.




This is what I meant about "squashing" the filter as you remove/reinsert it. It's just a little tricky to get in and out - but it can be done. Just be gentle so you don't break the plastic filter frame, or tear the filter membrane. You can see my left hand in this photo gently pulling the plastic cross beam out of the way, in order to get the filter in. Don't worry about how it looks "crushed" - the filter springs back into its correct shape.






And now with the filter back in - simply reassemble everything and you're good to go.

good point...great write up too !!!!!

top quality write up as always

Might get in and do this . since my car has gone better part of 14 years with out even a thought

`josh

For anybody interested - replacement part is $42.50 from Nissan.

Wow, it came out nice and clean man.

Good idea to clean your ac filters. Your Ac system will now have improved effieciency and you will have less risk of damaging your compressor. As a refridgeration and air conditioning mechanic , I would also reccomend cleaning your fan blowers as well, to further improve air flow.

If you dont clean your filters, and you allow them to become blocked, your evaporator wont allow a proper heat transfer to take place. The liquid refrigerant wont boil off allowing liquid refrigerant to get into your compressor. THIS IS BAD. You cannot compress liquid so the valves in your compressor will go kaboom. And, compressors are expensive to replace.

It would also pay to have your ac serviced professionaly, and have them change the liquid line drier. This is basically a refrigerant filter, and you CANNOT change this yourself. You have to have the proper equipment to do the job successful and to conform to environmental laws.

I like the write up on cleaning you air filters. You should try and do this either 6monthly or yearly. Use an antibacterial and anti mould soap and hot hot water to kill any other bugs. I would void blowdrying and putting the filter the filter in the sun for a couple of hours is better.

Other things you can check is, run your car with the ac on full ball. There should be a pool of cool water dripping on the ground, this is normal, and its basically the A/c dehumidifying the air. Make sure this pipe isnt blocked.

Also make sure it IS water and not oil dripping, otherwise you have other problems, you need to talk to an automotive mechanic about.

Hope these tips help

Oh i also nearly forgot to mention, when you have your filter out make sure the coils are clean, if not use degreaser and antibacterial to clean, and make sure your condensor coil is clean, lightly cspray with water when the car is cool.

Any questions just post em

nice article.

nice info there...very good for the S15 owner and also other people

Nice article mate, I should probably give mine a good cleaning as it probably hasn't ever been done. 30 years of built up crap in there i suspect.

Couldn't you just use compressed air? Obviously blow the air the opposite way the dust was being blown but it should do the job just as well and quicker I would think.

Yes it will do it quicker, but will also rip out most old filter elements. You do not use compressed air to clean your pod filter, so why would you on this one.. Just out of curiosity, what is the filter element made of? Could you use , say a filter cleaning kit like we all use on our pod filters??