cabin air filter???

[TGEORGE4]

im lookin at a 03 ranger to buy
but it smells like smoke.horribly.
like the truck though so i went to autozone
and asked what i could do and they gave mme some cloth cleaner and air freshener and told me i would need a new cabin airfilter it runs about 46$ there. so it added up to about 80$ after everything but has anyone replaced a cabin airfilter before? is it quick and easy or is there anything i need to be prepared for ahead of time?

 

[86freebie]

the cabin air filter usually cleans the outside air coming in. not the inside air.
BUT even if it does, the smoke is in the interior. some type of woolite cleaner with a scrubber on the seats. if you can pull the carpets and either carpet cleaner or i have used a hose on the carpet outside my car. while it is hot enough to dry the carpet. and lots of lysol.

sorry that smell will be there awhile.

 

[TGEORGE4]

its like rubber floor there is no carpet?
and i have an old shop vac the guy said soke the interior with some odor lifter stuff and give it a good suck with the vac. do yall have any other tips?

 

[94 4.0 5-spd 4wd ranger]

i had the same problem when i bought mine.
pull the seats nd carpet. shampoo the carpet, then pull the upholstery off the seats nd throw that in the wash.
this way your truck will smell like clean clothes lol
oh nd for you headliner somthing like febreeze might work.

 

[exbass94]

Rangers don't have cabin air filters.

 

[Jon Boy]

no filter? so in the fall or if it snows and you turn your defrost blower on without anything there, then why no leaves or snow blow through it onto the inside of the windsheild?

 

[exbass94]

no filter? so in the fall or if it snows and you turn your defrost blower on without anything there, then why no leaves or snow blow through it onto the inside of the windsheild?

The leaves usually just sit in the heater box. They sometimes cause the blower motor resistor to burn out. Do a search, it's been talked about before. The heater box also has a drain for water/snow. Even if there was a filter, it would never come into contact with water, as that would deteriorate/destroy it quickly. It's made of paper, very much like an engine air filter. Have you ever personally seen a cabin air filter in a Ranger? Have you ever changed one? Any mention of a cabin air filter in a Haynes manual?

 

[Mark_88]

_+ 1 on the Fabreeze...

You may also need to soap down the trim all around...I smoke in my car and clean it about every two weeks in the summer...and the windows are done more often in the winter because it is not easy to keep the windows open...but it will come out if you're dilligent with the cleaning...

If they were heavy smokers that did not clean it at all then the smell is usually pretty bad...I don't use Fabreeze myself because I found it irritating...just soap and water...windex...and some of that turtle wax cleaner helps to keep the smoke from sticking...

 

[TGEORGE4]

autozone said they did and have a replacement for it.
its a newer model an 03
the older models i know do not have them.

 

[Mark_88]

I don't think replacing that filter is going to help, unless it is somehow tied into the recirculating system...those cabin filters usually are on the outside air vent that leads into the cab to help reduce things like road dust, oil, asbestos, and other flying matter that we breathe in as we drive...

I was amazed when I read some advertisement on them when they first came out...so much tiny airborne particulate matter that we don't see that gets drawn into the vehicle...of course, it was an ad so I didn't think too much of getting a car with one in it...

Most of them are replaced either under the hood or up under the dash...but it would be before the inside air circulation sysem in most cases

 

[exbass94]

Napa doesn't list a cabin filter for my 06.

 

[ZeroAccess]

Cabin Air Filters are used in the recirculation system in most cars/trucks. I'm not certain the Ranger has a recirculation system but basically instead of bringing outside air into the cab (which also allows who knows what types of smells into the car), it recirculates the air thats already in the cabin. Typically the filter will be near the blower motor which in most cars that I've dealt with are either under the glovebox or on the firewall right in front of the pax side.

To change the filters its really easy just a word of caution, WHOever was driving the truck before you may have had a cold or some funky disease these filters trap those micron particles so please be careful not to breath in anything from the filter. I work on Semi trucks and since the drivers spend SO much time in the trucks we are more careful than say a passenger vehicle would be.

 

[ZMan]

no filter? so in the fall or if it snows and you turn your defrost blower on without anything there, then why no leaves or snow blow through it onto the inside of the windsheild?

because the way the air comes in, it makes it nearly impossible for anything to get into the heater box. The hole has a wall around it, like an old fashioned water well.

 

[odie1969]

when I worked at a car dealer and we would get trade ins we would place one of those ionizers thinking in the car for a couple of days. really seemed to work well. I have also seen the ionizers that plug in to the cigerette lighter you might try that. and the ranger dosen't have a cabin filter that I know of. and I moved a 04 dash and ac blower into a 87 ranger. I have seen the ins and outs of that F ing Hvac unit.

 

[TGEORGE4]

ya one of my buddys said something about bombing it.
but i wasnt able to find anything online about it.
anyone have a link?