Car Fix DIY Videos

Caspar Paarlberg says:

Amazing detailed video thanks!
I ordered an aftermarket filter but the foam part isn’t included. Is this a problem or can I leave it there?

007ss007 says:

Bad design there. Even earlier 9-3 had better place and easier to change cabin air filter.
That big foam block on top and pipes going thru it, make whole thing look like afterthought.

Grant Perkins says:

A very useful video. Thanks.

I finally got around to changing the filter on my 2002MY 9-5 Aero today. It's a UK car so right hand drive and a little different to what is shown the video.

Firstly the access is on the other side of the centre console. However it's a mirror image so the same process applies. One difference seems to be the fitting of the ECU (or whatever the very different looking electronics black box is on my car.)

In mine the unit stands clear of the bulkhead and so blocks the access to the filter slot because of the length of the filter. The control unit is held in place by a black plastic mount that has a pressure clip point either side to release the whole thing from a metal bracket on the bulkhead. Once out of the way access is as per the video. The wiring harness on mine has plenty of slack to allow it to be dropped to the floor out of the way.

The last filter change on mine was during a dealer service some years ago. So only 6 screws on the filter cover panel rather than 7 and no foam filler over the top of the filter! A creative mechanic will always find ways to hit the job time targets …

Fitting the foam strip was easier than I expected thanks to the guidance in the video. I had bought the cheapest filter I could find that looked something like the original. It has fitted OK but the top was some sort of felt material construction without plastic (the other 2 sides are plastic but not very strong) and so not very rigid making it difficult to push in without it buckling and distorting. I assume it is or will be OK once in place.

To help with sliding it in after I had positioned the foam strip over the pipes I used a thin strip of hard material (some kitchen worktop edge trim in my case but a venetian blind strip or something similar would work just as well) to fit below the foam while pushing in the filter. Once the filter is in place the strip of material can be pulled out. Even though the filter was somewhat flexible (having no good rigid plastic surround) the slider strip seemed to make it much easier than it would have been to slide the filter into position.

Now that I know what is involved from a 'hands on' point of view I would be quite happy to do the job again and maybe use a more expensive and better constructed filter to make it a little easier. (Maybe also obtain better filtration but I'm not sure I will ever know whether there is a real filtering difference between cheap and expensive to buy filters. I paid 1/6th of the price of the most expensive filters I found available for sale. Free delivery – which turned out to be next day even though ordered on a Friday afternoon.)

Emrullah çıvak says:

it so simple but the end filter cant slide because of sponge without that so amazing ı have a 9.5 98 model can you show how can we fix radıo panel lights some buttons are so bright and some buttons dark please waiting video

Shawn Oliai says:

Great step by step instructions, what to look for and how to do it correctly. Thank you very much sir.