Cabin Filter

I went to Home Depot and purchased some standard filter media then made my own filter for a fraction of the Toyota filter. The Sienna filter is pretty easy to change.

A while back I bit the bullet and dug into the glove compartment and finally....*finally* got the filter out. Always a cheapskate (I prefer to call myself "thrifty") I washed it out with detergent and warm water, let it dry and stuck it back in place.

Is a brand new replacement white? I thought mine looked all right after washing, though it was still dark gray. At least the crud was out of the ridges. BTW, if you think the filter is hard to get to, try taking the console and half the dashboard out to get to the radio/cd changer! I had to with mine when the cd changer inadvertently loaded two cds onto the "turntable" at once and jammed it thoroughly. I never did find out how that happened.

You went way too far on a disassembly that was not needed. All you needed to do is to pull simultaneously in the sides of the glove box and let it swing down (remove all the contents first). You will have full access to the filter door. When replaced, just push the door up to it's normal closed position. Next time I guess.

Do you have a Sienna? On my 04 the filter is behind the GB. Not very hard to change. As for the radio, I've never had to get at it, but I did manage to copy that part of the sevice manual and it looks to be a real bear to rip out.

If I remember the filter media is white or light grey on one side and green on the other. It is a standard furnace filter media and I just used a scissor to cut it to size. I have enough left to make several more filters.

Uhhhhhh... not according to what I saw. I did pull the glovey down at first but noted that the filter was trapped behind the plastic that the glovey attached to. That had to come out in order to remove the filter. jor

The one I bought from Checkers was white and cost $18. BTW, I too have had the pleasure of removing and installing a CD changer unit in my

2000 Avalon. What a pain that was. I had the same problem as you and ended up buying a replacement unit on eBay. jor

Nope...an Avalon, like the original poster, jor.

On my 04 the filter is behind the GB. Not very

Trust me, it is, and the dash is so beautiful, I was afraid of breaking or cracking something, but all came out all right, even removing the console!

So, you too are "thrifty". As Steve McQueen used to say, "I don't mind being screwed, but I hate to get ROYALLY screwed!" And the prices of new filters, both air and cabin, give one that feeling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You got that right! When you pull the glove box door and trappings, it looks as if there's a handy slot for the filter to pop out of, and then you realize that it's an inch or more offset, so that the slot is far from matching up with the front of the filter. So that plastic bit has to come out also. I have to wonder whether the plastic part with the slot wasn't intended for an older model when the slot and the filter matched for location.

we had a 98 Avalon and an 02 - both took a goodly amount of screws and at least one bolt to get to the cabin filter - we now have an 05 Avalon and its remove dampner rod, push in sides and drop it down (glove box) about a 5 minute operation as was my 02 Highlander - I've only 2600 miles on the 08 Highlander so no need to change cabin filter - but manual shows it simple, similar to 02. One thing I did was do the filter trick from home AC unit and it worked fine - I do notice that even though about all our driving is highway ALL of these filters were black by 12-13000 miles so checkum!

Ron in Ca