VF II SS cabin air filter

[Skylarking]

@chrisp you posted a pic in post #57 but it's not clear to me how to pull the bloody Air Inlet Grille Panel from it's position.

I've taken the 7 scrivets out, unhooked the rear wheatherstrip and managed to unclip the passenger side grille from the driver side grille halves. But removing the passenger side is proving to be rather difficult.

The manual simply states "gently grasp the inner top corner at the windscreen seal area and gradually pull the locking strip from the windscreen".

Problem is, how do i get the passenger grille out? It's not at all clear if there are other clips on the underside or how best to pull on the grille? Do i pull up on the grille or pull it towards the front of the vehicle? How hard do i pull on the part, etc...?

I feel like i'm going to break something

Anyone have some before and after pics of the relevant areas around the windscreen and and/or a better explanation than what is in the manual?

I'm particularly interested how the grill clips into the windscreen

 

[Skylarking]

OK, like most i can be impatient so i tried pulling a few ways.

What worked was pulling the passenger side Air Grille up near the junction between driver and passenger halves. Pull up from the engine side and the engine side part will unclip between the two halves. The rear parts will still be clipped together.

Now on the rear part of the Air Grille which is against the widscreen, get your fingers between the seal and windscreen glass and pull up (at 90 degrees away from the screen). The rear side portion of the Air grilles should unclip and the passenger and driver halves should now be unlcipped.

Continue to pull the rear Grill seal away from the windsceen, inch by inch towards the passenger side of the vehicle. By the time you get to the end, the Air Inlet Grille can be pulled away and expose the Cabin Air filter area.

I'll post some pics later... Gota do something on this rainy day

 

[chrisp]

Sorry I missed your post. It’s been a while since I did it but I seem to recall running my finger between the windscreen and the grille cover. The cover seemed to come away with a few soft clicks as I slid my finger along. iIRC, When I had the whole cover loose, I seperated the two halves and moved the left hand piece towards the centre. It’s all straight forward after that.

 

[Skylarking]

@chrisp, thanks for your post, missed it while looking at my MSE.

OK, whoever designed this Cabin Air Filter system needs to be sacked as serviceability had zero importance.

The correct method seems to be to remove both wiper arms, drivers and passenger side Air Inlet Grille (Plastic) Panels and finally the Air Inlet Grille (Metal Support Panel) Panel. Then one should have clear and unfetted access to the Cabin Filter. Then by simply unclipping the Air Inlet Housing Cover (filter retainer), the screen filter can be slid up and a new Cabin Filter dropped in.

As is, the mesh grille filter slides down into an slot (of sorts) and is firmely held in place by the Air Inlet Housing Cover. Trying to pull the screen filter out towards the vehicle front with long nose pliers rather than sliding it up (impossible due to the metal support panel above) seems wrong and will likley damage something.

Idiotic thing is that the terminology used within the "Holden VF,WN & HSV Gen-F Workshop Manual" PDF i have is unclear and inconsistant. The term Air Inlet Grill Panel is used to describe two different parts and they are in two different sections of the manual. What i think they mean is Air Inlet Panel Support Panel... to be sure to be sure...

Back to pulling my MSE apart or simply breaking teh effing screen filter, not sure which at the moment

Oh, and i can never see any Holden Service Centre doing this the correct way... it takes too long.

 

[Skylarking]

....It’s all straight forward after that.

Sadly, nothing has seemed straight forward with my MSE...

 

[Skylarking]

I need some sort of puller to get the Wipers off, so i can get the right side Air Inlet Panel off, so i can get the Air Inlet Suppor Panel off. This is becoming more of a pain than i first thought...

Maybe i'm overthinking it and need to put my grunt mechanics hat on and simply yank the screen filter out... but i'm reluctant to do that yet...

 

[lmoengnr]

I think you're making it a lot more difficult than it actually is...

 

[Ron Burgundy]

I think you're making it a lot more difficult than it actually is...

No doubt

 

[chrisp]

I need some sort of puller to get the Wipers off, so i can get the right side Air Inlet Panel off, so i can get the Air Inlet Suppor Panel off. This is becoming more of a pain than i first thought...

Maybe i'm overthinking it and need to put my grunt mechanics hat on and simply yank the screen filter out... but i'm reluctant to do that yet...

No need to remove the wipers. I originally that removing them would help, but in the end I worked out that they don’t need to be removed.

Remove all the scrivits across the plenum covers (left and right). Unhook the rubber seal (but you’ll have the leave the ends attached to the plenum as they are glued on). Give the two plastic sections wiggle and pop it off from the windscreen (I prised it up using my fingers and popped it off the windscreen). Yep, the wipers can get in the way, but I think that all you have to do is fold then back (upright) and you’ll have enough clearance. Once the plenum cover is loose, but still trapped by the ends, you need to seperate the join in the middle. It’s hard to explain how to do it, but wiggle and bend it a bit and it’ll come undone. Once it is in two parts, simply and carefully move the left hand section towards the centre (so the it clears the fender bit) and move it aside.

 

[Skylarking]

I think you're making it a lot more difficult than it actually is...

Holden designed the Cabin Filter with little consideration to servicing and i don't think anyone can really disagree with that.

And at the end of the day, i'm just trying to follow Holdens own process to remove the screen filter and replace with a paper filter. Following the correct process is hardly doing it wrong and hardly making it more difficult that it actually is as it's the correct way to do it

Sadly there is the poor lower windscreen length u clip design. A long raised lip on the underside of the Air Inlet Grille pushes down into this long windscreen u clip and holds the Grille upper seal agains the windscreen. If dirt is not clean from the winscreen u clip, over multiple filter replacements there will be issues with pushing the Grille down enough so that the rubber seal actually seals against he windscreen correctly. Holden is mum on any required cleaning before reistall of the Grille

As i said, its a pee poor design by Holden and all i'm trying to do is follow their service procedure and make sure i wont have issues down the track.

Bending, pushing, twisting and prodding things to get the screen filter out could possibly break things. Doing such over repeated filter cheanges likey will break something. Breaking the screen filter on day dot wouldn't be bad but breaking the shroud or the shroud side wings inside that hold the filter in place would be. Breaking the Air Inlet Cover due to pulling it up after repeated filter changes would also be annoying

Trying to get a new 'floppy filter' inserted and sealing correctly also seems less than optimum with the majority of parts in place. Some have raised concerns on this point and there is no real answer to this concern expressed (unless i missed it when scaning throught the whole thread. I think @Ron Burgundy has concerns about filter sealing...

Obviously we are all free to service our vehicles how we prefer and cut corners if we feel that is worth while (possibly scratching hands and arms in some cases).

Me, I prefer the correct way if possible.

In this case, that only requires the removal or three more scrivets, two wiper bolts and 8 Grille support bolts for the other needed bits still on the car to come off. Then it would be clean access without any issues. It's hardly more difficult (maybe a little more time consuming, possibly an extra 5 minutes if you know what you are doing).

But the main problem i'm now facing is i don't have a wiper arm puller and i don't want to just yank it up... Metal has been made thinner on these VF Seriies 2's and who known how far that has spread throughthe vehicle. Who knows what may happen if i yanked hard on the wiper arms

Oh, and if you get an inected cut and requre a doctors vistit, then the correct way may feel a lot more sensible in hind sight.