Watch out when you go to the dealership for your normal maintenance. If they replaced the AC air filter, make sure your recirculating mode still works. Just because the dealer does the work doesn't mean they know to put it in recirculating mode before changing the filter. I just found out they broke it when I had my 20000 mile service done. One easy way to check is to turn off AC and put in recirculating mode while driving on the freeway. If it is not broken, there should be no air coming in from the ac vents. Another way to check involves verifying whether the recirculating door covering the filter actually moves when you change from outside air to recirculating mode.

 

Thanks for the heads up, that is very disconcerning, sounds like a super easy mistake if forgotten......

 

Thanks for the look out...im about to change mine soon. Is it easy to change if i do it myself? I don't want to break mine also !!!

 

Buy the filter for under $20, DIY in 5 minutes. Watch out for the recirc a/c instructions (do the search on the forum). If you brake it, it will cost you $1500

 

anyone that wants to change the filter by themselves should read the manual and make sure its in recirculating mode. Don't force the door open if it is not open. If it is not open it probably means that you are not in reciculating mode or it's already broken. From what I read in the other posts, it's $600 alone for the parts and the dealer will have to remove the dash to replace it.

 

This sounds very iffy to do it yourself. Now i don't know if i should do it. How hard can it be...but sounds very touchy and complicated with all the advice so far.

 

Cool.. Thanks for the advice!

 

Just did my cabin filter.. yes you need to turn the air intake control to "Recirculated" mode and you will see the that filter door open automatically.. It's very cool watching it...

Our lexus GS owner's manual has all the detail under "air Conditioning section".

The owner's manual has a lot of detail....

 

The dealer will be replacing the whole blower unit since they were the one to break the door when replacing my filter during routine service. It's not as bad as I thought. They had to remove the glove compartment area and will be able to take out the whole blower units. It should take about 2 hours. Since it is so easy to break, I bet 90% of the cars had it broken already by the time it's 3 years old. They should just redesign the crappy part since the IS is the same way as well. Does anyone know if the LS is the same way?

 

thanks for the heads up. I have been pretty lucky so far with the quality of work and attention to detail from the service dept