Cabin Air Filter

[acdii]

The filter gets dirty, just like that for the engine so it takes longer to move air through the cabin when it gets dirty. You will know for sure you need to change it when the Evaporator for the AC ices up from lack of air flow! In My Hyundai Veracruz, i know it is time to change it now because the auto damper which blocks out exhaust fumes has stopped working. I just cant find one!!!! I cant find one for the Fusion either, whatsupwidat?

[akirby]

You are very knowledgable about the Fusion. Do you own a Fusion Hybrid? Did you look in your Fusion Hybrid Owner's Manual on pages 310 - 315 of the 1st printing? That is what I got with my vehicle. NO SEPARATE Maintenance Guide!!

 

You will notice that these pages are the same format as the traditional "Ford Maintenance Guide" provided with MOST other Ford vehicles. I am quite familiar with them, as I have owned several Fords in the past.

 

The Ford Fusion Hybrid does not come with a separate "Ford Maintenance Guide" since it's maintenance schedule is, in fact, QUITE DIFFERENT from a standard Ford Fusion.

 

My Scheduled Maintenance Guide, which is found on pages 310 - 315 of the 2010 Fusion Hybrid Owner's Manual (You do have a copy which came with your Hybrid, right?_) you will see that after the first 5000 mile service which is only a tire inspection and rotation, the interval is every 10,000 miles. Nothing in between. NO MENTION OF THE CABIN AIR FILTER. Just an oil change and a bunch of "Inspect level" etc. Change oil, rotate tires, inspect..... until 100,000 where you also change the coolant and plugs. CHECK YOU COPY OF THE HYBRID MANUAL.

 

No need to shout. bbf2530 does not own a FFH but I heard he slept at a Holiday Inn Express once so that might explain it.

 

On all other vehicles there is a separate Maintenance guide with the owner's manual and warranty booklet. It appears that in the case of the FFH they have included it in the owner's manual. This is different than all other Ford vehicles. If you go here you can see that it lists the normal maintenance guide that applies to the non hybrids. This is where it lists the cabin air filter to be changed every 15K miles:

 

https://www.fleet.ford.com/maintenance/owners_manuals/default.asp

 

But your FFH manual DOES list the cabin air filter - it's on page 315 under Special Operating Conditions and just says to change it as required.

[rpreuss]

No need to shout. bbf2530 does not own a FFH but I heard he slept at a Holiday Inn Express once so that might explain it.

 

On all other vehicles there is a separate Maintenance guide with the owner's manual and warranty booklet. It appears that in the case of the FFH they have included it in the owner's manual. This is different than all other Ford vehicles. If you go here you can see that it lists the normal maintenance guide that applies to the non hybrids. This is where it lists the cabin air filter to be changed every 15K miles:

 

https://www.fleet.ford.com/maintenance/owners_manuals/default.asp

 

But your FFH manual DOES list the cabin air filter - it's on page 315 under Special Operating Conditions and just says to change it as required.

 

I didn't mean to shout. That was the easy version of using bold. :redcard:

 

And your last sentence is what I originally said a couple of day ago.

[bbf2530]

You are very knowledgable about the Fusion. Do you own a Fusion Hybrid? Did you look in your Fusion Hybrid Owner's Manual on pages 310 - 315 of the 1st printing? That is what I got with my vehicle. NO SEPARATE Maintenance Guide!!

 

You will notice that these pages are the same format as the traditional "Ford Maintenance Guide" provided with MOST other Ford vehicles. I am quite familiar with them, as I have owned several Fords in the past.

 

The Ford Fusion Hybrid does not come with a separate "Ford Maintenance Guide" since it's maintenance schedule is, in fact, QUITE DIFFERENT from a standard Ford Fusion.

 

My Scheduled Maintenance Guide, which is found on pages 310 - 315 of the 2010 Fusion Hybrid Owner's Manual (You do have a copy which came with your Hybrid, right?_) you will see that after the first 5000 mile service which is only a tire inspection and rotation, the interval is every 10,000 miles. Nothing in between. NO MENTION OF THE CABIN AIR FILTER. Just an oil change and a bunch of "Inspect level" etc. Change oil, rotate tires, inspect..... until 100,000 where you also change the coolant and plugs. CHECK YOU COPY OF THE HYBRID MANUAL.

 

Hi rpreuss. Gee, I commended you for being polite (and humorous) in your last reply and was polite (and tried to be humorous :doh: ) in return, not sure why the sudden change. If you wish to win an argument concerning Maintenance Schedule errors, you can consider yourself the winner. However, I am trying to answer the question concerning what is the recommended change interval for the cabin air filter in the Fusion Hybrid. And the fact is that the recommended service change interval for the cabin air filter is still the same for all Fusion and Fusion Hybrid models. That is 15,000 miles for Normal Service, and here is why:

 

I am correctly answering a simple question asked by another forum member. Since it is not mentioned in the Normal Maintenance Schedule for the Hybrid, what would be the alternative? The average vehicle owner does not even check his tires and oil regularly, let alone take apart the glove compartment to check a cabin air filter. Being realistic, most Fusions (any model) will be lucky if their owners even change at 15,000, let alone disassemble the glove compartment monthly (or any other interval) to check the filter.

 

Just as tire rotations remain the same for the Fusion and Fusion Hybrids, 5,000 or 7,500 miles (adjusted to save on maintenance visits to coincide with the halfway point and each oil change for the Hybrid, every oil change for the non-hybrids), so does the cabin air filter change interval of 15,000 miles. Hybrid or not, the tires still have to roll and the occupants of the car still have to breathe

 

It is quite obvious that the Hybrid Normal Maintenance Schedule inadvertently left out the cabin air filter change interval. It happens. However, there is a change interval and it is 15,000 miles. So, if anyone can come up with any verifiable printed information from Ford to the contrary (there is none), please feel free to post a ink and we will all be happy to read it.

 

All discussions about Manuals errors aside, the recommended service interval to change the cabin air filter in all Fusions (hybrid included) is 15,000 miles.

 

In "Severe Duty" and "Dusty Conditions" it is advised that it should be checked more often and changed as necessary (likely much sooner than 15,000 miles), since there are then too may variables to apply a standard "Severe Duty" interval to everybody. In fact, if you look at the regular. non-hybrid Fusion Maintenance Schedule, you will see that it makes the same "Special Operating" and "Dusty Operating" condition recommendations. Check often and change as necessary.

 

So simply put, while it never hurts to check the filter periodically (or frequently), under "Normal Operating Conditions", the recommendation is to change at 15,000 miles max, no matter what.

 

And as anyone should know, ownership does not equal knowledge. An individual can be knowledgeable about a vehicle they do not own. Just as an individual can know nothing about a vehicle they do own. Does a Master Tech/Mechanic own every vehicle he must work on? Of course not, so let's be sensible.

 

The "cabin filter change recommendation" question has been answered, so hopefully we can drop the Owners Manual/Maintenance Schedule subject and move on to helping people.

 

Good luck. :D

Edited February 14, 2010 by bbf2530

[akirby]

I didn't mean to shout. That was the easy version of using bold. :redcard:

 

And your last sentence is what I originally said a couple of day ago.

 

What bbf2530 was trying to say is that it would be the same as the REGULAR Fusion and then he gave you the link where you can download and read the REGULAR Fusion maintenance guide. He was trying to solve the problem for FFH owners and show them where to get the information that was missing from the owner's manual. Why the hostility?

[dogo88]

Hi Dan. :D You are welcome.

 

Let us know how you make out.

 

Good luck. :beerchug:

 

Well I took a look at it yesterday. The pdf looks real easy, but the first statement of removing glove box door looks not at all simple. There is a retraction cable and it's housing bolted in front of the access door that the picture doesn't show. Plus opening up the glove box looks to require you to bend the rubber bumpers on each side to get past the stops. I guess a heavy hand could break them. I do have some time before the recommend replacement time since I have 8600 miles on it.

 

Dan

[deo1929]

Speaking of the glove box...has anyone figured out what the opening that goes to nowhere on the lower right side of the glovebox opening is for on the 2010 Fusion? Even the salesperson didn't know and couldn't figure it out. I'm just curious.

 

Also, if you park anywhere dry leaves or pine needles, etc. fall on the cowl, check your cabin air filter every 60 days or so. I had a filter plug up with dried leaf fragments because of where the car was parked in that time. FYI.

Edited February 22, 2010 by deo1929

[fsb99]

Speaking of the glove box...has anyone figured out what the opening that goes to nowhere on the lower right side of the glovebox opening is for on the 2010 Fusion? Even the salesperson didn't know and couldn't figure it out. I'm just curious.

 

Also, if you park anywhere dry leaves or pine needles, etc. fall on the cowl, check your cabin air filter every 60 days or so. I had a filter plug up with dried leaf fragments because of where the car was parked in that time. FYI.

 

Are you asking about the vertical slot on the right? That's supposed to hold cd jewel cases, I think.

[lrymal]

Speaking of the glove box...has anyone figured out what the opening that goes to nowhere on the lower right side of the glovebox opening is for on the 2010 Fusion? Even the salesperson didn't know and couldn't figure it out. I'm just curious.

Definitely for storing CDs. If you use the envelopes rather than jewel cases, you can store quite a few there. Works great.

[MeeLee]

I'm just at my third cabin air filter. I don't smoke, don't use any perfumes, but replace the filter with a carbon activated filter.

 

The only thing that's tough on the filter, is the rainy months here in FL, as the high amount of humidity ends up making the cabin air smell a bit stale, though only when the ac isn't on.

 

My first oem replacement was at 30k miles. Second filter at between 60 and 75k miles. Third is at 125k miles. I could do longer as the filter doesn't particularly look or smell bad, however, when I turn on the fan only, I do get a slight musty smell for maybe the first minute or so.

 

I hardly ever run the air without ac.

So for me, every 15k miles is baloney.

Perhaps when you use strong odors, or smoke, or live in a major city with lots of smog or construction dust going on...

 

30-50k miles replacement is pretty standard to me.

Edited September 9, 2023 by MeeLee

[mwr]

The owner's manual for my 2017 FFH (not Energi), on page 472 says (under Other maintenance items), "Every 20,000 mi - Replace cabin air filter". I can't imagine that's necessary. Other opinions?

[billford]

I have seen them so dirty that debris fell off of it and fell into the heater box. Had to remove the heater fan motor to clean it. 

 

Other times they are clean.

 

If you are going to check it, might as well just to replace it anyway and be done with it for a few years. 

[MeeLee]

On 9/9/2023 at 4:16 PM, mwr said:

The owner's manual for my 2017 FFH (not Energi), on page 472 says (under Other maintenance items), "Every 20,000 mi - Replace cabin air filter". I can't imagine that's necessary. Other opinions?

Change when you notice a faint whiff or smell from the air vents when turning on the fan.

 

Like said, 30-50k miles is about right for Florida, with mainly clean environmental air. I also recirculate the air, as my ac works better that way.