Just changed my cabin air filter... now I'm about to vomit
 

So, I bought my car used with 40k on the odo, and it looked to have been meticulously maintained. Apparently the guy didn't worry about the cabin air filter, or the mice living in the compartment.
http://www.carmical.net/clay/temp/1.jpg

http://www.carmical.net/clay/temp/2.jpg
:puke:
By far the most disgusting air filter change I have ever done on anything.

I do have a question though - is the grating above the filter supposed to be open?
If so, why? Wouldn't that allow pollutants and what not escape through there, rather than being filtered?
http://www.carmical.net/clay/temp/3.jpg
http://www.carmical.net/clay/temp/4.jpg

Nice find!

the top part is for when you put your AC on recirculate. It will draw air in from the cabin instead of the outside. One way of keeping things from nesting in there is to put the air on recirc before turning the car off if it's going to sit for a day or two.

OMG! i bought my car at 20k checked the filter at 40k and it looked like new.

THAT is insane

nasty!

i should really replace mine..... i have a strange odor when i turn up the ac

ewwwww thats fuckin gross! i bought my car with 74k... maybe i should check mine

i dont have any funky smells like you do twiz. i think its about time you swap that out

yea i should, just too many things i need for the car

-cabin filter
-K&N Intake filter
-coils/wires/plugs
-shocks

lol that gross.....

hahahahaha....That's Nasty!

Looks can be deceiving, I bought my 8 from a friend who took care of it meticulously. Throughout when he owned it -- he complained that the A/C simply sucked. When I bought it, I had the cabin filter cleaned, though it was clogged but it was not NASTY like that. Viola, A/C fixed.

But seriously, what you've posted is nasty! Yuck.

one thing when you use AC is to run fan after you turn off AC not just turn off the car.
water in the system it gets a bit nasty smell.

I now put a sonic rodent deterrent under my hood during Winter storage as they do love that nesting spot!

At least you're not alone. A bunch of us have had problems with mice one way or another. In addition to nesting material, I had mouse PARTS on my cabin filter as well. I don't know what it is about our cars that makes it so inviting... I never had this happen before. I tried mothballs (bad idea), sheet metal barriers, sonic repellants, and traps - the only way I got it to stop was by moving another car out of the garage and the RX-8 in. The good news is the engine compartment liner is niether especially difficult or expensive to replace.

As well as my '8, it also happened to my daughter's Mazda6 in Winter (she didn't drive it for a few weeks in heavy snow cover). So.... mice must also recognize the Mazda bang for the buck. But then, we're just part of their experiment anyway (Hitchiker's Guide ...). ;)

That is sick. Guess I should check mine. Hope I don't find any surprises like you did, lol.

wtf!

OK, am I the only one that thought Kosoku found SOMETHING ELSE in his cabin air filter...ummm, looks like "Pineapple Express" or something like that

After those mice worked so hard to add all that free filtration material in there for ye.

I change my cabin filter every 10-15 K miles depending on my mood.

everytime I change it, I find lots of dirt and tree leaves on it.

I dont want no little friend to build a nest in there ... so I change it to circ every time I shut my car off (almost every time)

how did mice get in there anyway?

My daughters 8' had 46k on it when bought we checked the air filter and the inlet box was full of acorn shells then when we figured out how to get to the cabin filter it had them too ( but no mice $@#%$%) thank goodness. Ac does work better now! Mice can find a way when you least expect it!!:dunno:
wro87

dam thats nasty i need to lookup how to do that and change mine too

That is Crazy. I should check just in case......

:puke:

yeah i kinda threw up in my mouth a little bit...