Air filter question (1 Viewer)

[cilles]

Can any of you with a GX 550 look inside your air filters (you have 2 if you don't know it) and check something out for me?
They tops come off easy with clips then the air filter just lifts out. I have 2 questions.
1. Does either or both air filters have a piece of ¼" foam attached to it? one of mine does but no idea why as dealer says it shouldn't be there (I've since replaced it for other reasons)
2. Under the air filter do you have these little black 'pillows' (see pic)? Bonus question, what are they for and can they be removed? One of mine was damaged by a rodent and dealer can't find that part, says it is part of air intake and I'd have to replace entire thing. But it looks like it pops out with clips -though I haven't tried hard, don't want to break the clips. I can't believe I can't get just that part and replace it.
Lastly anyone know how to put a wire mesh across the intake somewhere to keep out rodents? I'm in rural area and apparently it is a problem even after spraying regularly with peppermint (which is supposed to keep rodents away).

 

[Patrickg6191]

Sorry for your problem. The same happened to me with my 460. I would contact Bell Lexus in Scottsdale as they are very nice and ship parts. Not sure this is what you need but you can check this part on their website.

 

[BoostedGX]

Maybe a rodent got inside the other intake?

 

[cilles]

Sorry for your problem. The same happened to me with my 460. I would contact Bell Lexus in Scottsdale as they are very nice and ship parts. Not sure this is what you need but you can check this part on their website.

did your 460 have this odd pillow thing in the intake?

 

[cilles]

Maybe a rodent got inside the other intake?

I know a rodent got in and did the damage, trying to fix it hence my questions

 

[BoostedGX]

I know a rodent got in and did the damage, trying to fix it hence my questions

Sorry , the black pillows are carbon filters for emissions , they are meant to absorb vapor left over

 

[gvan1998]

Sorry , the black pillows are carbon filters for emissions , they are meant to absorb vapor left over

Bingo, they are not needed, only for emission purposes. Plus, your intake will sound louder without them.

 

[cilles]

Sorry , the black pillows are carbon filters for emissions , they are meant to absorb vapor left over

Can they be replaced? Any idea of part number?

 

[cilles]

Bingo, they are not needed, only for emission purposes. Plus, your intake will sound louder without them.

I don’t want louder nor do I want to pollute more.

 

[Patrickg6191]

did your 460 have this odd pillow thing in the intake?

No, as far as I remember there was no pillow on the 460. The mouse just chewed the filter and made a mess. I only noticed that when I ran the AC and parts of the filter started to fly through the vents. Since my car just had been serviced the week before, I called my Lexus dealer, and they told me that this was likely a mouse job over the weekend (We were at our beach house that weekend). They asked me to bring back the car and vacuumed the whole area clean at no charge. Since I use peppermint spray behind the front wheels whenever we are at the beach house.

As indicated, I would give a call to Bell Lexus in Scottsdale and tell them about your problem. I got the 550 mudflaps from them, and they are very nice and helpful to source parts that no other dealers have. My PNW dealers didn't have the mudflaps...

 

[munkeeboi]

@Patrickg6191 Filter material from your vents? Are the engine airboxes even in the same system as the interior air vents? or did the mouse get into your cabin air filter?

@cilles I'd be more concerned that the filter material got into your engine.

 

[Patrickg6191]

@Patrickg6191 Filter material from your vents? Are the engine airboxes even in the same system as the interior air vents? or did the mouse get into your cabin air filter?

@cilles I'd be more concerned that the filter material got into your engine.

Sorry if I was not clear, the mouse issue I had was with the cabin filter not the engine air filter. The cabin filter fan blows through the filter from bottom to top so if the filter is damaged, loose parts end up in the vents. When I found out about the issue, I did remove the filter and vacuumed the best I could, but my dealer said that they have a way to vacuum the whole cabin vents system as it went everywhere and they did a good job cleaning up the whole thing. Rodents apparently like to chew on electrical wires too. I spray this product now to prevent this to happen again, so far so good.

 

[Ward38]

Regarding the 1/4" 'foam' - I assume you are talking about the very loose woven fiber layer over the surface of the pleated filter? I have that on at least one filter, pretty sure it is both, but it has been a while. I believe it is just the pre-filter that is intended to prevent the pleats of the main filter from getting packed full of small debris.

 

[cilles]

@Patrickg6191 Filter material from your vents? Are the engine airboxes even in the same system as the interior air vents? or did the mouse get into your cabin air filter?

@cilles I'd be more concerned that the filter material got into your engine.

This material is on intake side of the air filter. I can’t see bigger bits getting thru that.

 

[cilles]

O

Regarding the 1/4" 'foam' - I assume you are talking about the very loose woven fiber layer over the surface of the pleated filter? I have that on at least one filter, pretty sure it is both, but it has been a while. I believe it is just the pre-filter that is intended to prevent the pleats of the main filter from getting packed full of small debris.

dd it was on one of mine. Not both. And parts didn’t show it nor was it on the new filter they gave me. Odd inconsistency.

 

[jeffhardee]

Can any of you with a GX 550 look inside your air filters (you have 2 if you don't know it) and check something out for me?
They tops come off easy with clips then the air filter just lifts out. I have 2 questions.
1. Does either or both air filters have a piece of ¼" foam attached to it? one of mine does but no idea why as dealer says it shouldn't be there (I've since replaced it for other reasons)
2. Under the air filter do you have these little black 'pillows' (see pic)? Bonus question, what are they for and can they be removed? One of mine was damaged by a rodent and dealer can't find that part, says it is part of air intake and I'd have to replace entire thing. But it looks like it pops out with clips -though I haven't tried hard, don't want to break the clips. I can't believe I can't get just that part and replace it.
Lastly anyone know how to put a wire mesh across the intake somewhere to keep out rodents? I'm in rural area and apparently it is a problem even after spraying regularly with peppermint (which is supposed to keep rodents away).

I looked at both of my filters. They are identical except that one of the black "filters" is partially dislodged (see photo).

Note that the rest of the free world has to put up with the CARB crap so that Lexus doesn't have to do port modifications to their California cars. I am SICK of every product I purchase having some sort of mod or warning label to satisfy the weak minds running California.

 

[JD.]

Can any of you with a GX 550 look inside your air filters (you have 2 if you don't know it) and check something out for me?
They tops come off easy with clips then the air filter just lifts out. I have 2 questions.
1. Does either or both air filters have a piece of ¼" foam attached to it? one of mine does but no idea why as dealer says it shouldn't be there (I've since replaced it for other reasons)
2. Under the air filter do you have these little black 'pillows' (see pic)? Bonus question, what are they for and can they be removed? One of mine was damaged by a rodent and dealer can't find that part, says it is part of air intake and I'd have to replace entire thing. But it looks like it pops out with clips -though I haven't tried hard, don't want to break the clips. I can't believe I can't get just that part and replace it.
Lastly anyone know how to put a wire mesh across the intake somewhere to keep out rodents? I'm in rural area and apparently it is a problem even after spraying regularly with peppermint (which is supposed to keep rodents away).

The black pillows are carbon filters that help remove any type of volatile organic compound from the airstream. Especially helpful when you have your ventilation system on recirculate. It'll also adsorb any
carbon monoxide that could be generated by other vehicles close to you. They are there for a reason.

 

[JD.]

The 1/4" foam is a pre filter to keep larger particles from clogging up the pleated filter behind it. Sticks, bugs, leaves, that kind of thing.

 

[jeffhardee]

The black pillows are carbon filters that help remove any type of volatile organic compound from the airstream. Especially helpful when you have your ventilation system on recirculate. It'll also adsorb any
carbon monoxide that could be generated by other vehicles close to you. They are there for a reason.

The cabin filter is inside the glove box. The filters in question are under the hood for supplying the engine intake.

 

[cilles]

The black pillows are carbon filters that help remove any type of volatile organic compound from the airstream. Especially helpful when you have your ventilation system on recirculate. It'll also adsorb any
carbon monoxide that could be generated by other vehicles close to you. They are there for a reason.

These are in the intakes to the engine, NOT the cabin air intake so what you say makes little sense. Would CO from nearby cars be any issue going into the engine? Into cabin I understand.