Noise After Cabin Air Filter Replacement

Hey_Fam · March 2, 2017

So I replaced my cabin air filter yesterday. The filter was moderately dirty. After replacing this i get a humming sound when the HVAC blower is on high. At lower speeds there is no sound. After doing some research it seems this is common and something must have fell down when removing the old filter.

Does anyone have insight on how to get the debris out of there?

thank you!

bgweed · March 2, 2017

I have read elsewhere that if it's all the way down near the blower, you have to take apart a good amount of dash to get to it. If you have a vacuum with a long hose, you could try to slip that down the air duct to suck out any leaves or other items.

For others who have not yet changed their filter, I took a plastic cutting board sheet and trimmed it to 9" wide, then used that to catch items that would have otherwise fallen down the air duct as I took out the filter.

Sean Neilan · March 2, 2017

So I replaced my cabin air filter yesterday. The filter was moderately dirty. After replacing this i get a humming sound when the HVAC blower is on high. At lower speeds there is no sound. After doing some research it seems this is common and something must have fell down when removing the old filter.

Does anyone have insight on how to get the debris out of there?

thank you!

Exact same thing happened to me about 2 months ago. Wasn't able to retrieve the debris myself. Still have the whirring noise when the fan is on high. Very annoying.

15_silverado · March 2, 2017

I have read elsewhere that if it's all the way down near the blower, you have to take apart a good amount of dash to get to it. If you have a vacuum with a long hose, you could try to slip that down the air duct to suck out any leaves or other items.

For others who have not yet changed their filter, I took a plastic cutting board sheet and trimmed it to 9" wide, then used that to catch items that would have otherwise fallen down the air duct as I took out the filter.

Excellent tip, thank you.

I will do this when that time comes.

Hey_Fam · March 6, 2017

just wanted to update this thread. It was difficult, but i able to get the debris out. There were two leaves down in there. With some persuasion i fit half my hand in there and used my fingers to grab the leaves.

T-Town-Z · March 6, 2017

The same thing happened me the first time I changed out the filter. Kind of a dumb design that there is no clearance to slide out the old filter without scraping off the debris on top, to fall into the blower motor !

STINSAN3 · April 19, 2017

How difficult is it to replace the cabin air filter?

Hey_Fam · April 19, 2017

very easy to do. just use the idea from above so you don't get anything in the fan housing.

Silverado Steve · April 19, 2017

Not too bad, from our own member fondupot

https://youtu.be/S0_ca6ZyUUw

How difficult is it to replace the cabin air filter?

sdeeter19555 · April 19, 2017

I've had luck using tubing attached to a shop vac to suck up debris from the heater box...large stuff will get sucked against the end and you pull those out like a magnet, small stuff like needles will pass through a 1/2 pieces of tubing. I had to do this with a Subaru that had been parked under a pine tree its entire life.

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Arcterrax · February 27, 2018

Lmao you guys are all great. This was drivong me nuts. Actually I was driving with nuts in my 2014 Silverado after changing the cab filter but I removed the blower motor grabbed my nuts out and now I am back in business.

a_salazar08 · February 27, 2018

Same thing happened to me a few months ago. I took it to a dealership and they fixed it in about 10min to remove the debris.

The technician said that it's a good idea to put some paper underneath the filter as you remove the dirty one because some debris may fall down as you pull it out and it gets pushed in as you put the new one in.