Since summer is coming up I decided to change my cabin air filter because the car started to stink especially when its humid outside.

I was not so surprise on the condition of the filter!!!

Again this is suppose to be a Lexus serviced car in Sydney!!!

The picture speaks louder than words.

How old do you think the cabin air filter has been in the car?

I've put the filter against a white sheet of paper and a white T-shirt for comparison.

 

Could it have been a charcoal infused filter ? When I changed mine, I think it was greyish throughout, evenly spread - part of the color was originally there even when new. Not saying the filter is not dirty, but perhaps the even nature of the color across the whole filter suggests that some of the color was original.

 

I check the cabin air filter once an year.

 

Our car is easy to change the cabin filter . I replace every year and take it out and vacuum at six months. A friend just purchased a 2008 ES350 with 30,000 miles. I replaced his the other day and it looked like the above filter but about 20% of the media had thick mold on it.

 

The first response is probably correct. These filters are not white to begin with. A better test would be to flip it over and see how big a pile of dust/debris you generate when you slap it against the garage floor.

I had the same response when I first checked mine (2002 just obtained in June) until I opened the package of the replacement - with that nice gray-black charcoal color as well!

kelly

 

kjcole is correct. The proper filters aren't white to begin with because they are carbon infused. Having said that, when your air conditioner starts to smell funny (moldy or whatever), it typically means that it is time to replace the cabin filter. Fortunately, as you just found out, that is a fairly easy and quick chore to do.

 

Yep could be charcoal in colour, when I tap the filter alot of dust and dirt came out.

Anyway time to change to a new filter.

 

Aussie SC430's have a Charcoal Activated Filter made by Denso. With the quality (sic) of Sydney roads, it doesn't take long for these to get clogged etc.

Given the cost of these in Oz, I purchase Denso filters from RockAuto and change mine every 6 months at a fraction of the cost.

 

The picture of the old filter is not as bad as some that we have come across with. The charcoal filter comes with impregnated charcoal and would appear to be gray. Yours is black.

The good thing is you have fresh cabin filter.

 

I am sure op can tell a dirty filter from a charcoal filter.
It looks very dirty to me, but I did see some more filthy ones posted here before.

Edit:
From his later post, he couldn't really tell. lol

 

The SC400 has white cotton filters, I assumed that the SC430 would be the same. LOL

Here are pictures of the old and new air filter from a typical SC400.

http://alscforum.com/discus/messages...tml?1311169094

 

Typically the carbon filters have the black frame around them like this one does. I'm pretty sure it was carbon, but obviously it's very dirty too lol!

I do mine once a year regardless of mileage. If I drove my car 10-15k miles per year, I would do it more frequently but I have put 3k on my car in two years so I just go by date/time.

 

Hello I know the instructions are supposed to be in the manual but my car didnt have one when I bought it and Lexus said they would send one but never did, it is a 2002 SC430 if someone could post the directions I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

 

If you sign up with Lexus.com as an owner, you can request a copy of the Onwer's Manual, free of charge.

 

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/6303601-post4.html