How To: Changing Cabin (Pollen) Filter
July 27, 2006 – 10:00 am by Dan Volkens
Filed under Featured, How-Tos, Volkswagen Jetta
Changing the Cabin, or sometimes called Pollen, Filter in your vehicle is a very straightforward process. It’s required to be changed in the 20,000mi. service interval on the MkIV Jetta 2.0. And that’s the vehicle that we’ll be using today.
The cabin filter keeps the air coming into the interior of your car free of most pollens, dust and other small stuff like that.
Open the hood and you will find the cabin filter located at the top left of the engine compartment (facing the car), just in front of the windshield.
Step 1 of 4
First, carefully remove the rubber gasket between the engine compartment and the plenum cover. Next, remove the four phillips head screws holding the plenum cover on. It will be pretty difficult to pull the cover out. It’s packed in there tight, so be careful not to force it too much.
Step 2 of 4
After removing the cover, you will have access to the filter assembly. There are two tabs on the front of the assembly. Depress each towards the front of the car. This will release the filter and frame from the rest of the components. Now pull both the frame and the filter out of the car.
Step 3 of 4
Remove the old filter from the frame and throw away, or mount on your garage wall for posterity. While you have the filter and frame out of the car, now is a good time to remove any debris such as leaves, etc. from the filter assembly. Reach inside and pull out any junk that might be in there.
When installing the new filter back into the frame, be sure that the air flow direction is pointing to the ground.
Step 4 of 4
Place filter and frame back into the assembly and make sure that the clips lock down on the frame.
Be careful when reinstalling the plenum cover. It will be very difficult to fit back into place. There is a tab on the bottom left side that must slide below the hood mechanism while simultaneously clearing the rest of the compartment. Don’t break most of the tab off like I did. (See photo below) Thankfully though, there was still enough of it left to reinstall the cover.
Screw the cover on, reinstall the rubber gasket, and voila… you’re done!
* Photos by Mauro Takeute
How To: Changing Cabin (Pollen) Filter
July 27, 2006 – 10:00 am by Dan Volkens
Strong dude. Very well laid out & written!
Hah! Just did this yesterday :)
The process is somewhat similar if you’re removing your car’s “brain” to have sent to a chip modding place for upgrading. I will being doing this soon as well :)
Good instructions… everything you said was right on.
Getting it back together was PITA. If someone does this and doesnt break a piece off somewhere then you rawk IMO.
i have one of these for the new beetle. it’s a ton worse, not harder just mre involved from the interior/dash..
need to rewrite from a forum..
Hi
Thanks for the advice! I happened to break off the pointy part near the front of the piece. Do you know if it’s essential, or do I need to somehow reattach it? Thanks!
Hey Stefanie. Yeah, it’s really tough to get that thing back in there without breaking something. lol As long as the cover will remain in place, and the hole (if the breakage has created a hole) isn’t too big, you should be ok.
I just changed the filter in my MkV Jetta - and thankfully, access is gained from within the passenger compartment (which I discovered after disassembling the firewall area by the blower motor… only to discover… no filter!)
On the MkV, the filter is underneath the glove box. Access is gained by removing two plastic screws, gently pulling down a piece of foam insulation, and releasing a single clip to detach the filter. It (and some debris from it) fall easily onto the floor mat below. Insert the new filter, replace the insulation, re-screw the screws, and within 3 minutes, you’re back in business with fresh air and clean hands besides!
Jim
Hey Jim, thanks for the tips on the MkV! :]
Do the Jetta instructions for a pollen filter change apply to an 03 turbo 1.8 Passat?
Denny
Hey Denny. Changing the filter on Passats is just about the same, though because of a minor facelift in the B5 Passat’s design around mid 2001 (making the facelifted Passats’ model designation B5.5) there might be very minor differences. Check out this link that shows how to change it on a B5 Passat.
http://istargazer.ca/extras/pollen.jpg
I hope that helps!
How to replace the air filter and cabin filter for VW rabbit 2007
The dealer offered to do this service for me at a whopping price of $74. I ended up just buying the pollen filter for $26, and putting it in myself. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without this guide though. I Googled for the answer, and this was the first one that came up. My cousin and I just needed to figure out where the darn thing was for starters! Thanks for posting this. It was a huge help.
Hey Toni, here is a link to a how-to on VWVortex.com for the MkV’s. This how-to was done on a new GTI, but it should be the same for Rabbits.
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3302867
As far as changing the air filter, I don’t have experience (yet!) changing one on the Rabbits. I hope someone else can chime in with an answer. :]
Rock on Jose, glad we helped!
Thanks for the great info. I found a nest under the cabin filter compartment and a cabin filter that filthy and partially crushed. $20 fixed it all.
By the way, anyone know what that ground connection is for (inside the cabin filter area)? My ground was in really bad shape.
A bad ground can cause electrical problems.
hey ppl
I live down under in Oz and have mkV 2007 TDI. does anyone know if fillter is located under glove box as it is on Jettas
Great post by the way
What’s up acdcfan, I’m not up on the MkV generations yet, (I gotta pick up a Bentley manual for these new models) but I believe it should be in the same location as the others. Here’s a write-up from VWVortex.com that should help you get it changed out. Let us know how it goes!
You can find a video of this same filter change at http://www.cincitdi.com/richc/cabinfilter.html
Along with several other (sometimes VW TDI specific) videos.
Thanks for the post-up Tim! Great video and site.
My girlfriend is at the dealer right now and just called me. They said they could do it for $125. I told her to tell them to put it back on and I’d do it this weekend based on what you’ve provided here and the feedback from those who used this to help them. Great info and keep up the good work!
Awesome Trey! Glad we can help.
GOLF 2005 TDI uses this method. I’m glad I didn’t try to get it from the glove box!!!
I bought a Cabin filter for my 2005 (new) Jetta for 17 bucks and have no idea where it’s located on the car and how to change it. Can anyone help
How ya doin Bob? If you have the new model Jetta, here’s a how-to over at VWVortex.com on changing it out. Hope that helps!
Do you know how to replace the pollen filter in a 2006 Jetta. I had a 2003 Jetta and replaced the filter as you described, but I can’t figure out how to get to the filter on my 06.
Hey Phil, check out this how-to over at VWVortex.com. It should get you set straight. :)
where is the air filter on a 2006 passat 2.0 turbo
Hey Bob, here’s a how-to on changing the air filter on the 2.0T. Hope that helps!