Don’t circulate dirty air in your rig - replace your cabin filter now and do it regularly. It is very easy on the 5th gen 4Runner compared to other vehicles on the road today, so take advantage of ensuring clean, unrestricted air in your cabin at all times.
Difficulty: Easy
Frequency: Every 6 months or 16,000 miles
Estimated time: Less than 5 minutes
Estimated cost: Depends on the filter, typically around $40
Toyota OEM filter: 87139-YZZ10
MSRP: $45.50
Recommended Bosch 6055C filter
MSRP: $21.99
Tools Required: None
Changing the cabin air filter is critical to circulate clean air in the cabin - as well as maintaining good airflow which may otherwise add stress to the blower fan. The Toyota carbon filter is a good product but I personally prefer the Bosch HEPA filters in my vehicles which are cheaper and better to replace regularly. I do not find that the Bosch HEPA restricts airflow significantly.
The time it takes to change the cabin filter out depends how much “stuff” is in your glovebox: the access door is located at the very back.
Move all of your ”stuff” out of your glovebox.
2. Depress the tabs on the door and remove the black panel.
3. Depress the tabs on the natural colored door and remove this panel also. You should now see the old filter.
The old filter (right) compared to the new filter (left) looks disgusting. Both are the same Bosch 6055C filter.
NOTE: The controversial arrow as shown pointing up on the door is misleading.
-On Toyota filters, ”this side up” which points upwards is only for alignment purposes as the airflow is actually downwards.
- Most aftermarket filters have an arrow which point in the direction of the airflow. It is easy to determine the direction of the airflow because the dirty side is where air enters from outside the vehicle.
So in the case of this Bosch filter with the flow arrow, the arrow should be pointed downwards.
4. Snap in the two access doors and you are done!
While this is extremely basic and requires no tools whatsoever, I do think there is a benefit to document this process for others who are new to the DIY space. I keep a maintenance log on my phone to help me remember my maintenance intervals but definitely consider adding the date and mileage (in pencil) on the edge of the filter. That way if you try to change it a month later, you can visually confirm (besides the appearance of the actual filter) when it was last replaced.
Due to COVID-19 this year, I drove from Texas to Pennsylvania 3 times in 2020 so my filter was a lot dirtier than other years. As always, your rig’s use case will dictate how often you change your filter (mileage, run hours, offroad/highway) If it looks filthy during your next change, move up the replacement cycle so you are always breathing clean air!