Pamperme

Really??? Countless threads on here about how to change the cabin air filter and not one of them mentions the fact that the "up" arrow which has the word "up" beside it, should actually be facing downward when installing it. Totally counter-intuitive to common sense and not one thread mentions this! Kind of frustrating. Hopefully, this rant will be of some use to someone else in the future.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

Here is a discussion on it:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...-air-flow.html

Pamperme

Thank u. It was quite frustrating to read thru the other threads that supposedly contained "instructions" and "how-to" steps and yet no detailed info on the direction the filter's arrow should be pointing.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

Are you using an OEM Denso filter? The tray has an up arrow and so does the filter. Both go in with the up arrow facing up. Not down. Although getting the cabin filter backwards probably makes little difference.

R Z

I recall the day I realized I need to be changing that cabin filter. While sitting and waiting for an oil change, the guy comes to me and says I need to change the cabin filter. He wanted $80! I went with it. Then I came home and found a youtube video on how to change it. Boy was I embarrassed at how simple it was. From then on until I traded my car, I did it myself and saved $60.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

I get both my oem Denso cabin, Beck Arnley rear cabin, and Denso engine air filter all from Amazon. Much better prices then really anywhere else.

Pamperme

I bought it from Lexus. The arrow was facing up on the filter. I didn't pay attention to the arrow on the tray. I just know that when I put the filter in the tray, the arrow on the filter actually needs to face down. right?

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

No, arrow faces up. The arrow is not indicating airflow direction. It is just indicating which way to install the filter. So both arrows face up.

Tom57

Arrow up means "UP" ... you're over-analyzing trying to determine the airflow direction. Regarding the title of thread ... this is why "No one mentions "DOWN."

Pamperme

See, that's the delima. I thought as u did and initially put the filter in the tray with the arrow on the filter facing up. But then I remembered that the replaced filter that I had to remove had the arrow down. I watched 3 videos on YouTube (2 were absolutely USELESS in indicating the direction the arrow should be) and the other one said the arrows face down. So I flipped the filter (not the housing) so that the arrow on the filter faced down. I called Lexus, they said arrow should face down too. All this, and yet the IDIOT that designed the filter still wrote up with the up arrow. This is easily the most unnecessary mountain of confusion for what should be a simple and straight forward process. So I guess the question that needs to be settled on this forum is UP OR DOWN?????? When replacing the cabin filter with a factory (bought from Lexus) filter, does the up arrow point up, like any normal person would think, or does it point down like some person high on crack would think?

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

Do you have an owners manual?

jayclapp

That works most every time, expecially if it has photos or drawings!

Pamperme

Thanks. So the last filter installed by the dealership, and the tech at Lexus I called today were both wrong. I was right the first time when I had it in the up position.

BradTank

I can definitely understand the confusion.

Almost all aftermarket air filters have an arrow that says "air flow" with an arrow and aren't marked in a way that means "this side up". Some air filters are mounted vertically, so a "this side up" wouldn't work. It looks like the OEM filters, the arrow means "this side up."

For residential air filters, the filters indicate air flow and usually that means the air flows "up" towards the evaporator.

On a car, the air is usually flowing "down", that's why debris is usually on the top of the filter when it's removed.

I personally think a better way would be "this side down" and an air flow arrow pointing down, but the aftermarket makes so many different filters for different applications, it probably makes sense just to stamp it for the airflow direction and let the installer figure it out.

I'd be willing to bet there's almost zero difference though either way.

rxonmymind

Be careful with Amazon and their pricing. I've looked at items on there to research then went back to purchase it and the price has gone up. I told my friend about this and it happened to home on some auto parts as recently as yesterday. You've been doing this for awhile and know what you should pay but on new researched products they'll jack the price up.