S40 (New) General : Replacing Volvo S40 Mk2 cabin filter (Right hand drive)

[leftcase]

What an absolute PITA this was! I found little bits of information all over the place, so thought I'd bring it together here in one place. I'm by no means any sort of motor vehicle tech, so use the info at your own risk. Hopefully it helps someone in the future.

1. Disconnect your battery

2. In the passenger footwell, remove the fabric panel by using a screwdriver to depress the centre of the two plastic fixing plugs which hold it in place.

3. You will now see a white fuse holder box. It has two plastic thumb screws keeping it in place. Rotate these and you will find that it moves on a hinge. Lower the unit to make space.

4. After noting down which cables go where remove the cables from the top of the fuse box.

5. The fuse box can be pulled free of the bracket it is secured to. Do so by pivoting it to its lowest position, and pull it towards you to remove it from the bracket. This may take some 'jiggling'.

6. Now you have more space, disconnect the cables from the underneath of the fuse box. Now it is fully disconnected, you can remove the fusebox fully from the footwell and place it aside

7. You are now left with the white metal bracket the fusebox was attached to. This needs to come out of the way as it prevents access to the cabin filter cover. Using a socket, remove the bracket from the bulkhead and place it aside.

8. Pull the footwell carpet away where it extends the the right up the centre console.

9. Put your head into the footwell and look right - towards the centre console. The cabin/pollen filter cover runs vertically up the inside of the centre console. If you are unlucky, there are up to 3 hex screws to remove. If you are lucky they may have been replaced with plastic butterfly screws you can remove by hand. Most likely whoever did the job before you will have left only one in.

10. Now the cabin filter cover is removed you should be able to remove the old cabin filter. If it's anything like mine it'll be caked in leaves and grime so you might need to give the cavity a hoover. Note which way the airflow arrow points, you'll need to ensure you insert the replacement filter the same way.

11. Insert the replacement filter into the cavity. It has a concertina shape, so you should be able to bend it up to get past the wires hanging down there and feed it in.

12. Replace the filter cover. It has a lip down one side which you need to line up with the cavity. Prop the carpet back up to cover it.

13. Replace the white bracket and tighten it up.

14. Connect the wires (you did make a note of what went where right?) into the top of the fuse box.

15. Seat the fuse box back onto the bracket, push it backwards and the left it up so that you can secure it using the plastic thumb screws.

16. Connect the wires into the bottom of the fuse box.

17. Reconnect the battery. Hopefully at this point smoke won't start pouring from the delicate nether regions of your Volvo.

18. Start your motor and ensure that everything works as it should.

19. Refix the fabric panel jobby back into the passenger footwell. To make the centre thing on the plastic plugs pop back out again just press the 'nail' bit of the plug back in.

[Baxlin]

Thanks for this, it brings it all together.
no wonder on my last service, I was told, sorry we didn’t have time to replace the cabin filter, but we put it in the boot, and didn’t charge you for it.......

(And I’ve still not replaced it!)

[Petey80]

Here's my little How To... from my progress thread

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showp...&postcount=183

But since then I've found it much easier with a 13mm flexible head ratchet spanner to remove the CEM bracket.