I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE DONE TO YOUR VEHICLE BY FOLLOWING THIS GUIDE! DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK! PLEASE DO NOT POST THIS GUIDE NO WHERE ELSE OR MODIFY IT. Email or PM me with any questions you may have
Since all of us 2nd gen owners have climate controlled seats (Cooling & Heating), with more features comes more maintenance. Each climate controlled seat has a circular shaped filter inside of it. The purpose of these filters is to make sure nothing clogs up the blower motor or the perforated holes. Since the blower motor is close to the floor at the bottom of the seat, anything near that area gets sucked up by the seat blow motor. That includes anything on the floor or in the surrounding air. To insure it doesn't screw the system up, there is a filter to make sure nothing get's sucked up.
I recommend and so does the manual and service manual to change these every 24 months or 30,000 miles, which ever comes first. You don't have to change them really, you can just vacuum them off too. I recommend vacuuming them as changing them is just pure OVERKILL. Their made almost like Hepa filters which makes them cleanable. Just don't wash them!! The dealer want's $95+ tax for these too, which in my opinion is a rip off. And don't forget you need one for each seat, which makes them $190+tax. Insane right?:eek.:
Step 1:
Open lift the front seat position to the most highest elevation posssible. You must do this to be able to get under the seat. Also slide the seat forward.
Step 2:
From the back of the front seat, get down on your hands and start sliding your hand under the back of the seat.
Step 3:
Now this is the most important part. With your hand under the front seat, start feeling around for a circular shaped disc. The circular shaped disc is the filter. You'll feel it once you slide your hand under the seat. It's right next to this big wire which is the side airbag wire. Be careful not to mess with the airbag wire. Anyways now that you know where the filter is, you need to get a hold of it and turn it counterclockwise. It will make a pop sound letting you know it's out.
Step 4:
Now carefully slide your hand holding the filter from out under the back of the seat.
Step 5:
Now do the driver's side now repeating steps 1-4 that I just mentioned.
Step 6:
Now with the filter out, bring it inside of the house and vacuum the filter with a soft brush vacuuming attachment. Using an attachment with a brush will help get the dirt and dust out of the white fibers carefully. Be careful not to tear or rip the fibers of the filter.
Step 6:
The left side is clean now and the right side is dirty still. It may not look that dirty, but they were. Even the littlest amount of dirt will cause the blower motor to not operate at it's best. The look dirtier in person, but my camera won't pick it up.
Step 7:
Now go back to the FX and install both the driver's side and passenger's side in the reverse order or removal.
Step 8:
Finally go start up the car and turn both the cooling then heating to test and confirm the air is blowing up through the seat properly.
Now give yourself a good pat on the back!
You've just completed another maintenance thing yourself without blowing $250 at the dealer to have this done. What a difference in the amount of air I feel up my back now. Not only does the cooling part feel colder now, but the airflow is even better than before. The heating is even better now too. I can feel the heat alot more. I have noticed over a period of time they stopped working as good as they use too. This is why you must clean or change these filters. It makes the climate controlled seats work good as new again
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the hardest and 1 being the easiest, I'd give this DIY a 2. The only hard part I can think of is getting the filter back on after cleaning or changing it. You have to feel around for the blower motor hole and attach the filter back on. But that's just about it.
