What is the trick with the cabin air filter

Not sure if it is of any help but a trick to replacing cabin filters is to turn on your windshield wipers and shut the car off while they are at mid swipe pointing straight up that way you can get to all the cowl parts easy and have plenty of clearance to work on the car without struggling to get around them.

That may help you line things up by giving you the room you need to work.

Good luck.

i think not all of the tabs were inserted correctly into the base of the cowl @ windshield. photo courtesy of DiMora.

bigcat said:

i think not all of the tabs were inserted correctly into the base of the cowl @ windshield. photo courtesy of DiMora.

Click to expand...

That would be my guess too. Just make sure they're all in and just push toward windshield.

The real trick before changing out the cabin air filter is to always put your windshield wipers in the 12 o'clock position before lifting up on the cowling (makes it 100% easier to do)...the cowling should fit right back in (simply press the cowling along the grommet openings). Also make sure that you put the filter in with the "arrow" showing the proper flow of air going into the system (i.e. the "arrow on the filter when you put it into the removable holding frame should be pointing towards the inside of the car).
Last thing...next time, you have the cowling off...check your grommet holes...that has been a problem with a lot of 05, 06, and 07 Stangs allowing rainwater to leak past them and then it ends up in your car (driver and/or passenger side). I recently had the TSB done to seal all those grommet openings by the dealer (I had a small leak which put rainwater into my passenger side footwell along the side where there is the panel cover to your electronic switch box).

Bottom line: Ford obviously came up with this design at the last minute...they would love for you to have them do it (about $100 for labor plus the filter). Of course, they could have put it in behind the glove box (like a lot of the imports do) and then you would really have to work in order to replace it. You can safely go about 20K miles with normal use of a/c, vent, or heat...but if you live in a very dusty/dirty area, then I would change it about every 10K miles.