HD - 2004-2009 Mazda 3 Cabin Air Filter Change DIY - No Glove Compartment Removal Method 

I'm just about to do the filter on my gfs mazda, after watching some videos I wish I hadnt volunteered. my car you flip the glovebox down, unhook it, pull out a tray with the filter, pop out old, pop in new. quick 5 minute job and no unbolting anything. I hope the engineer and designer got shot for this design

Nice video. Worked like a charm. Note to self bring a vacuum to clean the box and pay attention to what direction the filters come out/go in.

Who the F#$% designed this. Way more involved then it should be.

Thanks for the tutorial. I was really reluctant to do it myself, but in the end I completed the job in 20 mins. Putting back the wires were tricky as I didn't know how the wires were latched. As for the metal bracket, I used an adjustable wrench instead of a deep 12mm socket.

Followed your steps on my '06 Mazda 3S today, and no trouble at all. For the bracket nuts, I used a regular 12mm wrench and a screwdriver as a fulcrum to pry it loose a few millimeters, and then it was easy to remove with fingers. Getting the bottom filter in was tricky, you really have to make sure those rails line up on top of each other and goes in the slot inside that housing or it all falls down.

Awesome video! I am not really a car guy and it took me 1 hour all in. The hardest part is properly aligning the new filters, there is not much room to work back there!

I did this today on my 2005 Mazda 3. Bought the car used two years ago. Left the glove compartment on for this. The filter in the car when I took it out looked like it had never been changed. It was black and full of bugs and dirt, so I'm glad I did it, but I can appreciate why no one changes them. The entire job in essence is "easy" but I will never ever do this again. Terrible design to just change a cabin air filter. After disconnecting the battery, popping off the side panel, dropping and disconnecting the electrical junction/fuse panel, then had to use a breaker bar to remove the two bolts with extended 12mm socket that held the metal mount, removing the side cover for the filters, it then took ages for me to locate the new filters. There is just no space to work with and I was swapping between lying on my back or on my front and going by feel if the top and bottom filters were in right. First attempt felt like job was done but I got in with a torch and they wernt aligned. Pull them out again. Muck about for another 15 minutes, finally get them in and stacked vertically. Popped the cover back on and did everything again in reverse after a ton of swearing. After finishing, turned the car on and had to let it relearn idle. While that was happening tested the blower and the air was blowing out great. Happy with the end result, but annoyed at the workflow. Compare this to my wifes Toyota. Drop the glove compartment enough to get behind it. Slide out the old filter, slide in the new one. Pop the glove compartment back up. No need for battery disconnection. Job done. This is how it SHOULD BE!

Just did mine today on my 2005 with the help of this video. Thanks!

It's legit. Like the man says, you don't need to remove the glove box. I've changed these filters a few years ago and I was looking for a video to refresh my memory. I came across a few that go through removing the glove box, and I knew I didn't do that the first time. Thanks for the video, very thorough, to the point, no chit chat, and some good tips along the way.

210k miles and I have yet to change this stupid thing. I’m a bit scared of what I’ll find by now but think I’ll give it a shot this week. Thanks for the vid. Seems like an easier method than the glove compartment option.

Just picked up my 08, Thank God for your video, it probably save me time, money, parts (cause I would of broke stuff)

That was so much quicker than removing the glove box. it's still a little tight in there. Thanks for the tip on leaning the seat back. it really helped. It's so much easier to change the cabin air filter in my husband's Toyota.

Thanks for this video, it helped me quite a bit. I was having trouble with getting the filters in, I understand why there are two but getting the bottom one in place while trying to hold the top one just wasn't working for me. I ended up blowing a balloon up to about 3 inches in diameter and wedged that behind the top filter. That held it in place while I was able to slide the bottom filter in place. With the bottom filter in place I was able to pull the balloon out. Trust me it was well worth the trip to the dollar store.

Thanks dude! Just did mine, quick and easy after watching this took me maybe an hour

Just did mine. It was really really bad. What a pain in the ass compared to most vehicles with it in the glove box. Took me about an hour. Thanks Badass125

Very helpful vid took me 15 min to change over and back together

Great video man!! Really helped alot! But dayum was it tight in there!! Getting the 2 new filters in was a B!! Hahaha! After 10 min i managed to fit them in properly and everything was good from there!!! Thanx again!!

Thanks! This video was a great help.

great and clean video man... thanks

How do you get to the Blend door actuator? I have no heat. And I don't hear/feel anything when turning the knob. I wanna see if the blend door is working properly or if it's the thermostat.

great video bro!! thank you!!

If you remove the passenger seat it makes it way easier. I had to fix my subwoofer under my passenger seat and replaced my cabin filter at the same time. Makes it way easier to access the compartments!

Thanks for the tutorial. I just replaced mine today for the first time on an '08 - after 105,000 km. My old filter was gross and definitely needed to be changed! Surprising, the hardest part was getting those two bolts off the metal bracket - I needed a long breaker bar, a couple ratchets extensions, and a deep socket to get them free. Luckily I had those things! The other thing that was a bit of a pain was contorting my hands/body to get those damn clips out, especially the upper ones. I also noticed that one of the new filters I got came with a piece of foam attached that looked like swiss cheese. I left it on when installing it (seemed to be glued on so didn't try to remove it) This seems kind of weird since the original 2008 OEM filter didn't have that piece, and why would you want to restrict airflow more??

Did mine this past week, got a sore ass and some cuts on my arms but we got there in the end. On the UK models there are some minor differences i.e. Theres no sensor on the cabin filter cover and when installing you put the bottom air filter in first. I spent ages trying to do it the other way around and it wouldn't work.

This is a walk in the park compare to replacing the cabin filter on a Renault Megane 265. On those you need to remove the clutch pedal

Thanks

thanks for the video I did it but after the check engine light came on P0043 any ideas?

good video. I tried to do mine today but failed. the two 12mm screw are very tight. I couldn't get one of them off.

Wow your carpet looks amazing, mine is all warn from pervious owner

Before I viewed video I actually was gonna attempt to replace myself , after viewing I have decided to never replace it because I have no patience, otherwise was good video for folks who have a little patience

Can a realy durty a/c filter affect the the sistem to not work well ?

I couldn't remove those 2- 12mm nuts holding the bracket on. They were so tight, I ended up using an impact driver and breaking the extender!

If you saved $100, you get to spend at least half that on new tools, you should of bought a whole deep socket set, that's why it seemed like it wasn't worth it, you have nothing to show for your trouble, if you had some new tools, it would seem much more worth it. Thanks for the video.

I Dont know why mazda made the replace of cabin air filter too dificult. !!!

So I’m having a bit of a problem, this is the second time I’ve changed a Mazda 3 cabin filter and for some reason the auto on my drivers window isn’t working anymore. Was I too heavy handed with the wiring loom or is there some “trick” to getting it working again?

what if i dont remove the negative cable from the battery or turn it on service mode?

After seeing a lot of videos, I ordered the filters, took out everything as in the video, returned to the place and now the driver can not control the passengers' electric windows : / Maybe it's the fuses

👍💪🙋‍♂️ Thank U

Mainly re-watched this video to help me install new air cabin filters. Also used this video as reference too. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-baid3IaY7Ig.html Was shocked to find out that I didn't have any filters in the slots. Been like that for a while I figure. Wonder if I'll notice any changes now that it does have filters inside. Thanks for taking the time to make this video. Much appreciated.

Oh my f$ck I'm glad my 2012 mazda 3 isn't this difficult to change the cabin filter or it would never be changed st all

did this, now my high beems and horn dont work, my signals dont display and my parking break light will pop on and off. wonky is right

Holy FML!*;"!*;*!"!"!*!* I got that SOB in there!

What the ^@#@*&% uck ... Was Boeing behind this????? Do we have to reprogram the computer system too? thanks for the video, holy s_i_ total bungus.

It's not that difficult to do. It would be a shame to spend money on a mechanic. It took me about half an hour and I didn't need a deep reach extension socket for the bolt, I could reach it with an ordinary one. The only difficult part is/was the crouching position (very difficult access), which could be made a lot easier by taking off the glove compartment. All in all, it is doable without removing the glove compartment (and probably faster), but takes more physical exertion.

Takes exactly 30” on my subaru. This is a mess.

Too complicated for me I just let my mechanic to do it for me

I will never buy mazda again.

Newer models much easier and quicker

And they say Germans over-engineer stuff...

Too much talking

People do not listen to this tape, you must dismantle the glove compartment otherwise you will have big problems