'98 Jetta - Location of Cabin Air Filter

Maintenance/Repairs
1

So I’ve succeeded in breaking a few plastic clips on a ten year old ('98) VW Jetta, in an attempt to find the cabin air filter.



Does anybody have any idea where it is in this vehicle?



I took off the passenger side cowling (where I broke a few sun-baked ten-year-old plastic screws/clips in doing so) but it is not there. It would seem to be a large filter, at least the replacement one that I got from an auto store is.



Any ideas?



Thanks,



Brett



P.S. It’s my fiance’s car, so I’m in hot water now!

2

Here are instructions on how to replace the cabin air filter in the '99 Jetta: http://info.rockauto.com/ATP/Detail.html?VA1.gif Hopefully, the '98 is similar. Opening the hood and removing the cowl is what is recommended. If you already did that then maybe the '98 is unique.

3

There was a design change half way through the 99 model year. However, the same basic instructions in the link above still apply. Except that it’s not necessary to remove the wiper arms.
Don’t worry about the plastic clips, they always break. You can get new ones at the dealer.

The filter is under the cowl on the passenger side adjacent to the top of the shock tower. If memory serves me correctly, there is a plastic grate/screen covering it that you’ll need to remove first to get to the filter.
If my memory serves me correctly (again) there are many Jettas out there that do not have a cabin air filter (only the grate/screen mentioned above).

Good Luck

4

A hah!

Thanks Mr. Bean, I think you may be correct - that there is no cabin air filter in this vehicle.

I went to Autozone and left with this fairly large (10x16 or so) charcoal filter - this is what the catalogs all say is in the vehicle. But looking in there, I see this smaller (8x10?) grate/screen that you mention, with no easy way to get the thing off. (It appears to be bolted down very near the outside of the car)

So what’s confusing is that documentation (Bosch, Autozone) documentation point to this filter, and my fiance was told by an oil change place that they needed to replace it (for $75?!). I’m beginning to think they were just pulling her leg …

Thanks for your help.