I was working on my car today and checked to see if the air cleaner element needed to be changed. Purchased the car a couple of months ago. The filter element looked fine, but I noticed that there's another filter in the top of the air cleaner cover. Does it need to be changed also? If not, how do I clean it, it looked pretty dirty? Thanks.

 

You have one air filter by the engine right? Normally you just take it out and replace it.

 

Perhaps he's thinking of the cabin [air] filter?

 

Thanks for your reply's. I'm aware of the air filter in the engine. I'm asking about the other filter in the top of the air cleaner cover. The cover that you lift up to remove the air filter. Mine has another filter in it. You can't see it unless you turn the cover over.

 

Looking at another Mazda forum I found that its a non-replaceable carbon filter. You would need to replace the air cleaner cover to replace the filter. Apparently the carbon filter also helps reduce noise from the induction system in the engine bay.

 

Wow I didn't even know that was in our cars. You learn something new every day...

 

Seems like it's the 17+ models that have it. One person has a turbo and it didn't have it. So the turbo models may not have it, just the N/A models.

 

Mine does not have it.