cabin air filter direction?

[m5bbq]

I got the oem microair carbon cabin air filter from fcpeuro. I'm trying to figure out the proper airfilter direction. Mine came out with both filter arrows pointing at the engine bay. I saw 3 videos on youtube and 2 of them say I need to make the arrow point toward the passenger seat. I'm not sure whether the filters has already been changed and installer screwed up, or youtube videos are wrong. Can you guys tell me which is the proper direction?

FSM says something about tab filter and non tab filter. Mine is just all paper. Not sure what tab even look like. Thanks in advance.

[vafan13]

As far as I could tell ours have no tabs, so the arrow points towards the seat.

From newtis:

Installation note:
For version without tab on the microfilter (1):

Note direction of installation in marked area of microfilter (1).

Arrow must always point opposite of direction of travel for installation.

For version with tab on the microfilter (1):

Tab must always point in the direction of travel for installation.

[m5bbq]

excellent, I kept the arrows pointing opposite of direction of travel. I also bought an ozone generator and kept it running while vent on full blast for 30min. The initial moldy blast a/c usually gave is complete gone! one of the better "upgrades" I made in a long time.

[Qsilver7]

One can get an idea of why the arrow on the filter should face the interior of the car in the illustration below. As fresh air is drawn in from the engine bay…the air is channeled and passed through the two microfilters. The same occurs for recirculated air as well.

See the location of the microfilters (#5) and why the air direction arrows should face toward the cabin…this set up is the same for multiple BMW models 5/6/7/X5:

[texsn95]

Did you disconnect the battery?

[M5Rick]

No need to disconnect battery when replacing filters.

In between micro filter replacements I use Magneti Marreli air con refresh to condition the system, so you put the air con on full flow at 16C and press re-circulate button with all the vents open, then spray the whole can inside car with door slightly ajar, when can is empty close door (and lock car) for 15 minutes with engine ticking over. Then switch off and open windows for a bit and you're done.

[vafan13]

I did disconnect the battery for safety regarding the knee airbag. Obviously the chance of setting it off is extremely low, but I don't want any risk of death or a brain injury from trying to replace a stupid cabin filter.

Warning, though, if you disconnect the battery your sunroof will not function as expected afterwards. Simple fix, though, just look up the video on youtube.

[m5bbq]

there is no need to disconnect the battery. Only tricky thing is to remove one of the plastic cover, there is a screw on the passenger side of the transmission tunnel that needs to be removed. The only thing I disconnected is the cig lighter. You can leave the rest connected. There is another bolt for the evap core cover next to the drain that was pain to get to. I used my phone front facing camera and flash light to get it out. As far as the job, the locations of the bolts were the worst things. it's otherwise very easy to do. I got oem carbon filter from fcp euro.


for the smell, you just need lysol or some disinfectant that kills fungus if it's really bad. i got one of those cheap ozone thing on amazon and i thought it was overkill. The smell is 100% gone. it's the best thing i've done to my m5 to date

[texsn95]

I bought this a few years back and it works really well, especially on older cars, I run it for 30min in our '14 Armada and it really cleans up the musty smell from the vents and neutralizes some of the odors that accumulate.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1