Good Day

Manual says to replace at 40K. Even though the service boys said not necessary I replaced at 28K as its spring and I have allergies. Service tech was very surprised as it was absolutely jammed. It was doing more harm than good.
You guys may want to replace sooner than service schedule says. That said, it was more expensive than I am comfortable with. Fifty dollars (Canadian) and half hour labour (not easy to do yourself) equaled $120 big ones with tax.

Im still planning on changing it once a year.

Fud

 

Geezzzzzzz, I had my wife's cabin filter changed (2007 M3 Hatchback) changed at 12k and it was almost blocked. It cost us $100. It took 8/10's of an hour and I read that a pro could change it in twenty minutes. If is is not changed does it cause damage? I thought it was because he had never done it before. Our manual says to change every 20k, but in Phoenix it is so dusty it will have to be changed more often than that. - Sammieg

 

While this does require removal of some interior stuff the install it's still a pretty easy install. I'd recommend just getting the filter and doing it yourself next time around.

 

Found this on another board: http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=22427.0 This one http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.ph...66.0;topicseen comes with pictures.

Haven't tried it myself yet.

 

ProfessorDave, good link

 

Well, finally decided to do this in my daughters 3. It's kind of a pain in the @ss, but once you know how, it's pretty easy.........could probably do it in 20 minutes next time. Oh........she has an 05 and it had no filters in there as some others have reported. Few leaves, but I was surprised it wasn't that bad in there. Cleaned it out, wiped it down, and installed the new filters! I did have an issue once all back together in that I had a door ajar light on and therefore the alarm wouldn't set. Found that I had to unplug one of the connectors on the fuse box again and re-seat it. Was able to do that without tearing it all apart because you can actually get the fuse box out of it's hinges and at least get to both sides to get at the connectors.

 

As someone who works for a manufacturer of HVAC systems for "Another automaker" the answer is yes. This will make the small blower motor run hotter than it was designed to. This is not instantaneous, but over time, electrical components that run hotter than designed will eventually quit.

Not to mention it can cause back pressures that may give a whistle or other noise.

Given the nature of the materials used to manufacture the HVAC, I know we are constantly fighting to keep noise to a minimum. I have to say the 2010 3 I bought is relatively quiet. I am curious, once I have the need, to see the degree of difficulty this will be to change.