Basic Question- How to replace air filter
 

Hi,

1) I need to get to my air filter on my Gen3. I used to let a certain Mazda repair shop in Canoga Park Ca. do all my service but now I decided to do it myself. I lost trust and confidence in them recently. Do you have pictures of where the filter is and what has to be opened? I know I have a filter type that needs cleaning and have maintained them on my diesel truck.

2) I live up in the Ventura California area. Got any contacts who might want
to look at my car? According to "that certain Mazda repair shop" and by personal observations, I am down quite a bit down on horspower still, even after they replaced all my vacuum hoses. They said it could be either engine or exhaust problems (big differnce in costs). If its exhaust, I'd go with a down pipe but as I said earlier, I don''t trust those guys anymore.

Thanks,

Paul
Jacques

well the air filter is easy as pie. You just have to take your air box apart.


I suggest you take your car to RnR Rotary in Upland California. Ask for Steve 909-593-8080, tell him Elliot from the forum sent you and trust me that he will take care of you. I drive 140 miles one way to see this dude. I trust him because he is stand up guy. Most shops can't beat his prices either.

If you are down in power: First and foremost get a boost gauge. If your boost is fine I would go into replacing your precat with a DP. The precats tend to fail and cause loss of power. The same can be said for the cat.

But like i said contact Steve he know his shit and he will be able to tell if your car is actually slower than it is supposed to be.

Hmmmmmmmm. That "certain shop" usually has a pretty good reputation :)

To remove the filter, it is best to remove the entire airbox.

Remove the crossover tube to the box.
Disconnect all hoses from the airbox. The larger lower hose will come off when you remove the box, but the clamp must be loosened/removed.
Remove the bolts holding the box in place.
Remove the box from the engine compartment.
Remove the bolts holding the 2 sections of the box together.

Be very careful to not drop anything into the engine compartment while working on your car. If you drop something, you may not see it again for a very long time ;)

While you have the box out, you should consider modifying it. Click the link in my sig for info on my mod. If you choose not to modify, at least get a K&N filter to replace the one you have.

Good luck, Adam

If you still have the stock clamps on the car the hardest part will be opening the clamps to remove the hoses. You'll need a vice grip pliers to open the clamps and back them off onto the little raised ridge at the hose attaching point.

Hey Adam! nice pitch on the cheep bastard airbox mod. never would have seen that one coming!!! LOL. Its a great mod.
Jeff

Pitch?? Me?? ................ Never!!! :rlaugh::rlaugh::rlaugh::rlaugh::rlaugh:

adam sold me too. He filled my inbox with PM's until I sent him money :)