BMW 2-3-4 F Series Cabin Air Filter DIY

Foreword:

By request! Here’s a super simple maintenance task that will save you some out of warranty money from the dealer. Not much to say about this one, super easy, only 2 tools needed, hardest part is bending to get under the dash to get to the nuts and torx screws out.

Technical skill
Cost
Time commitment
PITA factor

Prerequisites:

cabfiltertools

  • T15 torx driver (I use these Bondhus)
  • 10mm nut driver or socket (Love Wera)
  • BMW Air filter (I’ve order this one twice) – BMW Part #64119237555
    • Ships from a BMW dealer
    • Fits: 2 Series (F22, F23); 3 Series (F30, F80-M3, F31, F34-GT); 4 Series (F32, F82-M4, F33, F83-M4, F36)

The steps:

Just a little warning, there is some airbag stuff behind the panel you’re about to remove. Do not remove, loosen, etc.. anything with anything air bag listed on it. It’s pretty obvious but needs to be said.

  1.  Remove the lower right instrument panel trim by loosening the below 2 10mm nuts
  2. Pull straight down a bit on the lower trim piece and it should pop off but don’t pull it completely down yet! (Be careful as the 12v plug on the left in the below picture is kind of in a funky spot that gets hung up under there)
  3. Disconnect the below 2 electric plugs from the trim panel (just pull on them, no clips holding them in) then remove the panel from the area
  4. You now have access the cabin air filter. There are 2 T15 torx screws to take off labeled (1) below
  5. Pay attention to the tabs in the black and white image above, you can use those to pull off the cover as seen below
  6. Remove the filter by pulling on it from the right side, it’s bent in there, kind of weird but it will come out. Be careful and be ready for an influx of dust, dirt, hair, mold, leaves, etc…
  7. Re-installation is pretty much the inverse of everything you just did. Make sure you connect 2 Torx screws, reconnect 2 electrical connections and tighten on 2 bolts, if you did those 6 things you’re done. One thing to note is that the new filter is directional. The arrow must point towards the front of the car

    The arrow needs to point towards the front of the car


    You’ll have to bend the new filter quite a bit to get it in there, it will squish a little but you should be able to get it in pretty easily.

And that’s it, simple maintenance task that will save you some cash on your next trip to dealer.

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