Pollen Filter

[Merlin5]

Hi everyone.  Recently I've noticed a horrible musty smell in my Auris. I know it's an old car now (2007), but I've always liked the pleasant upholstery smell, and the musty smell covers that up. I can only describe it as the smell of musty carpets. However, I've done a close up sniff test of the carpets and they're fine. I bought carpet cleaning products which I don't really need now, lol.

Oddly,  I had sniffed inside the glove box and noticed the same smell there. I saw a friend last night who is a mechanic and he mentioned a filter in the glove box. "Excellent!" I thought, that tied in with what I had smelled and I've finally found out what is causing the musty smell. Well, hopefully anyway. He said it would be a pollen filter I should replace and it's an easy job.  Looking at this video below,  it certainly is easy. The square paper filter in the video I'm guessing is the pollen filter he's talking about.  Can anyone recommend a place to buy one? 

Edit: I found this one at a place called GSF. Only 4 miles from me,  I'll go buy that as it's only £9.  I checked europarts but theirs are £23 to £53.

https://www.gsfcarparts.com/drpc12-0217?auto_apply_coupon=MID65&gclid=CjwKCAjwwL6aBhBlEiwADycBIBhyO0otmvu8sGrkvgguHG1lBWwR_h-S49qZfbYeZoqwqp99abhwrhoCE8sQAvD_BwE

 

[MrZardoz]

£53?!  Loads on eBay under £10, same fitment as some Yaris, RAV4, Avensis.

[TonyHSD]

Indeed. The best filters I found are the Blueprint simple cabin filter. Very important though to change at least once a year or with every service and do not follow manufacturer recommended interval of 2 years or 20k miles. This is the most important filter in your car and protects you and your passengers from harmful emissions. Even if the filter look good on first sight once changed its colour  and start smelling of fumes, that’s it, it need replacement. Here a deal 4 for £17.50

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174967215003?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=CfWbZDI9QQ6&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=p34UK1z2T4m&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Super easy to change.

Open glove box, empty it. Unclip carefully the shock on the side, push your fingers on top of the box between the box and the dashboard, tiny space and lift the plastic up it will release two small teeth and the box will be able to drop further down, use the seat sliding to support the box if you don’t want it out of the dashboard. Unclip the black cover, take out the old filter, make sure where the fan is everything is nice and clean, install the new filter with air flow top to bottom, place back black cover to click in place. Lift up box until teeth click in the dash, attach shock dampener, job done. 👍

[Merlin5]

Thanks guys.  Yeah Tony, I'll do that, I'll change the filter regularly now that I'm aware of it.  I've just bought a filter for £9 from GSF Car Parts which I'm about to fit when I get back home. I'll keep your eBay link though for the next time.   I'll give a quick vacuum behind the glove box area first. I unclipped the glove box and found a dust clogged and slightly ripped old filter. No wonder I got a musty smell! 

 

 

[PCM]

eBay for filters annually for me.

And an Air Con anti-bacteria, footwell aerosol, also annually.

 

[TonyHSD]

One more thing about HVAC in these cars and bad smell. 

There is a water drain pipe located under the passenger carpet upper side. This is important to be checked if evacuates water from the hvac system, the condensation formed when using ac in summer. If anyone haven’t noticed any paddles under the front of the car in summer time should lift up the carpet and check and flush this pipe. To do that you will need to remove the car mat. Plastic undercover bellow the glove box. Then lift up the carpet top end near the dashboard and you will see this pipe and there is a plastic connector. Open there and using a suitable syringe with tube inject water towards outside, water should pour down on top of the left suspension arm and into the ground. Repeat until water flow is easy and unrestricted. Put back all together. Replace cabin filter as per above instructions and you are good to go. If more unpleasant smell remains I can give you some tips how to kill bacteria with your heating, no need any special chemicals or anything. Simple procedure. 👍

[Merlin5]

Thanks Piers and Tony. Hopefully I won't need to mess around with a water drain pipe for now. I'm interested in what you recommend for killing bacteria in the heating, just in case any bad smells have been coming from that, (I'll first see how things smell after fitting the new filter) and interested what product Piers uses as a footwell aerosol and where exactly he sprays it.  I presume I can't spray anything directly into the airvent slats? By the way, the car does have aircon and I had it refilled/regassed about a year ago as it wasn't cooling. It worked for a while but hasn't worked now for a few months and I didn't bother to get it regassed. I've just been using the airvents with standard hot and cold air.

[TonyHSD]

1 hour ago, Merlin5 said:

Thanks Piers and Tony. Hopefully I won't need to mess around with a water drain pipe for now. I'm interested in what you recommend for killing bacteria in the heating, just in case any bad smells have been coming from that, (I'll first see how things smell after fitting the new filter) and interested what product Piers uses as a footwell aerosol and where exactly he sprays it.  I presume I can't spray anything directly into the airvent slats? By the way, the car does have aircon and I had it refilled/regassed about a year ago as it wasn't cooling. It worked for a while but hasn't worked now for a few months and I didn't bother to get it regassed. I've just been using the airvents with standard hot and cold air.

Ok, that’s an easy job then. 
 

Killing bacteria with heat procedure:

Start the engine and let it run with heating off to warm up quickly.

Turn AC off.
Turn heating to the max temperature,  fan speed 2, air suck from outside, air flow towards feet and middle of the dashboard.
Close all doors and leave all windows half an inch open.  
Stay outside the car, keep an eye on coolant temperature, should be at correct level.
Then after 10-15min switch air flow towards windscreen and feet.
Let it idling and keep all doors shut.
Keep monitoring the whole process, watch coolant temperature , oil light, make sure everything works as it should. 
After 20-30min you are all done.
Reset your hvac settings to suit your preferences.
Turn off the engine and open all doors, leave the car like that for another 10 min to cool off the hole interior and refresh the cabin. 
 

If you like to use any dissectant best one is Dettol antibacterial 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dettol-Crisp-Linen-Disinfectant-Spray/dp/B084R1XD3T/ref=sr_1_8?crid=SLH4PZ8FEAN0&keywords=dettol+aerosol+disinfectant+spray&qid=1666199955&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIzLjYxIiwicXNhIjoiMy4xMSIsInFzcCI6IjIuNzgifQ%3D%3D&rdc=1&sprefix=dettol+spray+aer%2Caps%2C131&sr=8-8
 

If you want to use that , you can while doing the procedure above. For that purpose, you have to remove the cabin filter first. Spray few shoots into the air suck vent outside the car near the passenger wiper blade. Do that at the beginning of the procedure, and then let the car dry itself. Better not to spray directly into the air vents ins the car or use any specific auto solutions. Some  may cause more issues than help. 
👍

[MrZardoz]

Cheers for the heads up on that 4 pack, Tony. No brainer with my wife’s RAV4 taking the same type too, decent saving that!

[MrZardoz]

Still in shock over the £53 quid option 😂

[Merlin5]

3 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Ok, that’s an easy job then. 
 

Killing bacteria with heat procedure:

Start the engine and let it run with heating off to warm up quickly.

Turn AC off.
Turn heating to the max temperature,  fan speed 2, air suck from outside, air flow towards feet and middle of the dashboard.
Close all doors and leave all windows half an inch open.  
Stay outside the car, keep an eye on coolant temperature, should be at correct level.
Then after 10-15min switch air flow towards windscreen and feet.
Let it idling and keep all doors shut.
Keep monitoring the whole process, watch coolant temperature , oil light, make sure everything works as it should. 
After 20-30min you are all done.
Reset your hvac settings to suit your preferences.
Turn off the engine and open all doors, leave the car like that for another 10 min to cool off the hole interior and refresh the cabin. 
 

If you like to use any dissectant best one is Dettol antibacterial 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dettol-Crisp-Linen-Disinfectant-Spray/dp/B084R1XD3T/ref=sr_1_8?crid=SLH4PZ8FEAN0&keywords=dettol+aerosol+disinfectant+spray&qid=1666199955&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIzLjYxIiwicXNhIjoiMy4xMSIsInFzcCI6IjIuNzgifQ%3D%3D&rdc=1&sprefix=dettol+spray+aer%2Caps%2C131&sr=8-8
 

If you want to use that , you can while doing the procedure above. For that purpose, you have to remove the cabin filter first. Spray few shoots into the air suck vent outside the car near the passenger wiper blade. Do that at the beginning of the procedure, and then let the car dry itself. Better not to spray directly into the air vents ins the car or use any specific auto solutions. Some  may cause more issues than help. 
👍

That's excellent, thanks Tony! I'll do the procedure you detailed to see how I get on before using Dettol. So basically, about 10 to 15 minutes on feet/dash, and another 10 to 15 on feet/windscreen. 👍

[TonyHSD]

15 minutes ago, Merlin5 said:

That's excellent, thanks Tony! I'll do the procedure you detailed to see how I get on before using Dettol. So basically, about 10 to 15 minutes on feet/dash, and another 10 to 15 on feet/windscreen. 👍

That’s right. The idea is the heat from the engine to flow through all air ducts and dry them well and kill the bacteria. 

[furtula]

Filters average around 8-12GBP where i buy them. That's including the activated carbon ones. 

[Merlin5]

21 hours ago, MrZardoz said:

Still in shock over the £53 quid option 😂

Lol, I know.  Europarts. I won't ever be using them I don't think!

Right, car is currently in part 1 of the airvent bacteria killing process. On fan speed 2, max temp, dash/ feet, and I decided to buy a can of Dettol from Waitrose,  only £2.50, and I've sprayed into the vent by the Wiper Blades.

 

 

[Merlin5]

Right, all done! However, I forgot to remove the new cabin filter before spraying the Dettol. 🙈

[TonyHSD]

4 minutes ago, Merlin5 said:

Right, all done! However, I forgot to remove the new cabin filter before spraying the Dettol. 🙈

Oh well. Did you spray a lot to just a bit? If you made the new filter wet it will dry but you may have some moisture on the inside the windscreen. Not a big deal as when you use the car and the heating is on it will dry everything again. Btw it is a good idea to keep fan always on so the system gets well ventilated every time you use the car. my hvac settings are 22C° , air flow windscreen and feet, fan speed 2. I don’t adjust anything as the system is auto and it’s smart so she does it all. In summer settings are similar but I change air flow towards middle of the dash and feet, turn on or off the ac if needed. 👍 

See how will be tomorrow and let us know please . 

[Merlin5]

27 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Oh well. Did you spray a lot to just a bit? If you made the new filter wet it will dry but you may have some moisture on the inside the windscreen. Not a big deal as when you use the car and the heating is on it will dry everything again. Btw it is a good idea to keep fan always on so the system gets well ventilated every time you use the car. my hvac settings are 22C° , air flow windscreen and feet, fan speed 2. I don’t adjust anything as the system is auto and it’s smart so she does it all. In summer settings are similar but I change air flow towards middle of the dash and feet, turn on or off the ac if needed. 👍 

See how will be tomorrow and let us know please . 

I must have sprayed about 8 or 9 shots. To be honest, looking into the outside vent it looks like it's quite distant from any spray getting to the heating system but I guess it must. 

[TonyHSD]

On 10/20/2022 at 7:10 PM, Merlin5 said:

I must have sprayed about 8 or 9 shots. To be honest, looking into the outside vent it looks like it's quite distant from any spray getting to the heating system but I guess it must. 

Hi, 

how is your car doing after the new filter and treatment you have done, any positive changes? 
Thanks