Most liked posts in thread: The Case For Replacing Your Cabin Air Filter.

Yep...

I have an R55, the battery is mounted in the engine compartment on the right side behind the firewall. It has an access cover to reach the terminals, and doesn't have the positive terminal in the engine compartment like the R53 does.

So.......I needed to get to the battery for a 12V source to test something, opened the little hatch and I noticed I could see the cabin filter clearly - I also could see what looked like a huge mound of dryer lint in there! Somehow a mouse or something had made themselves a nice little nest in my A/C, sitting right on top the filter! I wonder how long I've been carting this little hitchhiker around, or if it runs out as soon as I start the car in the morning? I also wonder how it got in there, as I don't see any openings one could crawl thru. I cleaned out the nest and changed the filter and haven't seen any sign of a reinfestation so far....

Lesson learned - check your cabin filter!

 

Yikes!

And EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWW.
I'll make sure that gets replaced here soon :cornut:

 

Haha same exact thing happened to me on my clubman right in the same location. I can't even fathom how he got in there...especially since I know it's a chipmunk and they're pretty big.

 

I'm sure all that chipmunk / mouse would need to do is experience just one track day and it would seek another home.:lol::lol::lol:

 

You should have seen the "oh ****" moment one of our club members experienced when was changing his cabin filter. There had to have been 2 lbs of bird seed, cat food, dog food, and other related garbage on the filter. He had some critters setting up house and they didn't want to leave. It was gross.....

 

When changing cabin filters in a first gen. don't look up where it is housed when pulling it out, major crap falls in your face:confused5::incazzato:ut:rrr:

Mark

 

Seeing these things makes me wonder how cars without filters have functional A/C. I work in the HVAC field and low air flow due to a dirty filter or evaporator generates lots of calls. I can't imagine what the evaporator looks like on a car with no filter.

 

I wondered if it might be a chipmunk in mine as well, mice leave a terrible mess of urine and feces, this was just a nice fluffy nest, with a few seeds and such, but no excrement that I could see.....

I have seen the critters scampering around outside the house too.....I'm going to need to set some traps I'll bet......

 

Here's my little buddy. He's been camping out in the car for a little over a year now. As long as he doesn't chew through anything important we're cool :lol:

 

Cute little bugger!

 

Any lower Rally and the little guy wont be able to get under the car.
Chipmunks for wheel gap!

 

I've lowered my car since those pics and he still finds a way under there :lol:

It pains me to say that I may have said goodbye to my little chipmunk . I was in a rush to get to the post office this afternoon so I hopped in the car and pulled out quickly. About 5 minutes into the drive I hear a scratching noise and just write it off to tire rub or something of that nature. At about 35 mph, a little tail appeared in the drivers side window. Fearing for his life, the little chipmunk had climbed all the way up to where the a-pillar meets the chrome beltline and was holding on as tight as possible. I immediately pulled off in the closest driveway so I could help him down, but by the time I had slowed down to a roll he had jumped off and scurried away in a daze.

 

Hopefully he comes back, and he didn't get scared away.

 

They're not cute to me, to me they're just a mouse with jail stripes!

I would love to take mine out to the country and drop them off if they would just hitch a ride, they can do a lot of damage to your house and your yard/garden, not to mention under the hood of your car!

Be glad he's "relocated"!

 

Am I reading this correct that you can access the Filter on a R56 by removing the battery?

 

No, all I'm saying is that you can see the back side of the filter by looking thru the access for the battery. You have to remove it the usual way.....

I also was able to get the hose end of my shop vac in thru there to vacuum up most of the leavings of my hitchhiker - who hasn't been back since, BTW.

 

and the usual way would be?.....

 

From inside the cabin....

Earlier cars have 4 screws on the bottom of the cover, once those are out you pull the over off by releasing the 4 tabs, then simply pull the filter down and out. It has a curve in it, so you reinstall it by pushing the left end up into the curved part first, then the rest. The box is just forward of the bottom of the glovebox, you have to stand on your head to see it - so I just feel for the screws and tabs with my fingers. More flexible (read younger) folks can move the seat back and lie on their backs and look up to see the screws and retaining tabs...

It's not that hard, and you certainly don't need to pay a dealer to do it for you...

 

Anybody with tips for the R56?