How do you replacethe cabin filter in a 99 Cougar?

Answer 1

Alright, to do this, prepair the following items.

A flat head screw driver.

A Philips head screw driver.

A T35 torques head driver of some kind.

A towel or blanket you don't mind risking with oil.

A new filter.

First, with the hood closed, pop the three plastic caps off of the plastic plate directly in front of the windshield glass on the passengers side with the flat head screw driver, the one closest to the quarter panel may come flying off so be careful. Use the Philips head to remove the screws under the plastic caps.

Pop the hood of the car, spread the towel or blanket over the engine to protect yourself from any protruding objects, and remove the two or three torques head screws in the left side plastic panel, and the closest torques bolt on the right panel.

Pull the stripping away from the lip to about halfway past the right panel, or about 75% of the cars width.

Now you should be able to remove the plastic cover, exposing the filter. There are two clips which hold the filter in place on either side, pop these and remove the plastic frame holding the filter.

It probably isn't a good idea to breathe to deep of the filter, they get rather nasty.

With the new filter in hand as well as the mounting frame, you will notice that the new filter is perfectly straight, and doesn't really bend, while the frame has a slight radius on it. You will have to lightly snap the filter in two or three places to get it to bend within the confines of the frame, don't worry, if you notice the old filter is also broken in several places, yet look at all that it managed to take out of your breathing air.

Now comes the difficult part, getting the filter back in. I can't really give you too much advice on this, other than get the inside lip of the frame in the clip first, giving you more room on the left side to wiggle the harder second clip into place. From there it is just a matter of re-assembling that which you took apart.