Depending on your mileage, the kind of roads you drive and how many trees overhang your parking area, you may need to change the filter once or twice a year. With "cleaner" driving conditions, that interval may extend to two years.
Germain Ford
7250 Sawmill Road
Columbus, OH 43235
All too often, drivers forget about that little part known as a cabin air filter. A grungy filter won't cause an engine malfunction, but it just might make you malfunction, especially if you suffer from allergies. The filter's paper or textile core prevents the external pollutants, sucked into your Ford's vents, from entering the passenger cabin. The list includes dust, pollen, mold spores, tiny bits of leaves and gravel, as well as pollutants from industrial waste. Columbus, Ohio, drivers may not speed down dirt roads or park their vehicle outside a factory belching smoke, but they're no strangers to the exhaust fumes from stop-and-go traffic or the annual pollen dump every spring.
When in doubt, have the filter replaced. If the AC airflow is weaker than normal, your cabin air filter may be the culprit. If the inside of your car smells like a wet dog and you don't have a wet dog, change the filter. If you're scraping ice off both the inside and outside of your windshield in winter, change the filter. Filters absorb a certain amount of moisture from the outside air and, once overloaded, can disperse micro-droplets to the inside of your Ford's windows. That moisture won't do your vent fan any good, either. What's more, the obstructed airflow caused by a clogged filter will reduce the efficiency of your vehicle's heating and AC system, perhaps even burn out the AC's electrical components.
Germain Ford of Columbus will be happy to check your cabin air filter and replace it, if needed. No, replacing a filter isn't rocket science. Yes, you could probably figure it out for yourself, eventually. But do you really want to contort your body into a pretzel to access the filter, located behind the glove box or deep beneath the dash? Do you have specialized tools like panel poppers to get where you need to go, without damaging something?