Just wanting to confirm the air flow for cabin air filter. When replacing it on a 2016 Fit, I believe that the air flow arrow (on the filter itself) should be pointing down, because the air flow is from top to bottom. Am I right on this?
I ask because videos I've found online for replacing cabin air filters give opposite comments on this.
Signed on here so I could get the definitive answer!

 

Follow the arrow direction (arrow points up) of the filter you replaced. to confirm direction, pull out the filter, turn the fan on, stick your hand in the slot to determine which direction air is flowing. I like to know if the video is wrong!

 

The COVER to cabin air filter says UP with arrow pointing up. This is very confusing to many, I think, because it has nothing to do with the flow of the air for the filter. Bought my Fit last year, replaced air filter and put it in with air flow going down. I believe this is correct, but I did the hand test, and honestly when I put my hand in there, it seems air is going both ways. I think I have it right (amazon filter say I do), but strangely, the Fram and Amazon filters (they have their own brand) I bought both have the slats on top if I put it in with air flow down. This does not seem right to me, I am thinking the side with plastic slats (Kind of like the slats under a bed to give it support) should go on the bottom. But that would make air flow go up! So I am confused. In addition, checking it yesterday, I had a very strange thing. Some napkins in my glove box were a bit shredded, and lo and behold when I opened the cabin air filter, I found all kinds of shredded napkin laying on top of my air filter. How could that be??!! The area was closed (snap cover was on, in other words). How could a napkin or two have been sucked in there?? Also, the fact that the shredded napkin stuff was laying on top of my filter at least proves that the air flow is going the way I thought, down, don't you agree? But very concerned how thosenapkins got in there and got shredded.

 

A critter could have shredded the napkins. They live cabin filter areas, it's great for hiding nuts.

 

Arrow faces down towards the fan / blower . Just happen to pick one up for the '13 FIT .

 

 

That's how I have been installing mine, with arrow pointing down, as I said, but I thought that meant that the blower was blowing from above it. Does it mean instead that the air comes in goes through the filter, then gets blown through the vents?
In other words, is the filter meant to filter air before it gets accelerated by the fan, or after? I had never thought of that before.

To 2rismo2--I thought about a critter, but I still would not know how a critter could leave evidence in both my glove box of shredded napkins, and also then somehow get inside of my cabin air filter area also!
And also this happened immediately after I changed the filter too--just happened to be looking at it a few days later to do the hand test to check which way air blows.
I figure I might have somehow left a bit of a napkin hanging inside the cabin filter cap, and it got sucked in. Still baffled by it, as I've changed cabin air filters in a number of cars, and never had anything like this happen.

 

I posted something in reply here at around 12:40 AM this morning (Monday). I can see it when I search My Posts, but can't see it here with the other posts/replies. Does anyone know what I did wrong? Can you see my early morning post?

 

The filter is on top of the blower , so air is drawn through the filter from blower motor .

 

But if that's true that the filter is above the blower, then that means the picture you showed and my installation are wrong. The arrow should be pointing up, since that's the direction of air flow, as you just said, from bottom to top, as it gets blown from below through the filter.

 

Or is it that the air gets "drawn through" as you say, from top to bottom, by the fan, then gets blown again thru the vents by the fan?

 

how much does it really matter ?....but i feel ya...

 

You want the sucker to suck air through the filter.

The blower, aka the sucker, aka the sucker-blower, aka the blower-sucker, blows air downward and sucks air from above it. The filter location is above the blower (you can call it the sucker if you wish) so the arrow on the filter, which indicates air flow direction, should point down. That way the sucker will suck air through the filter. To avoid confusion I call my blower a sucker. What goes up must come down. What blows must suck. For every blow there is an equal and opposite suck. And vice-versa.

 

Supposedly pleated paper filters allow air to pass through in one direction, with less restriction than in the other direction. Also, they fill up with particulate matter faster, and their flow rate decreases faster, if air is sucked through in one direction, than in the other. Why? I don't know. Maybe the manufacturers made this "fact" up? Anyway they all have an arrow printed on them, fiberglass filters too, indicating which direction the air should flow.

Very important: if you put a filter in one way, and you take it out, and then put it back in – do not put it in the other way! It is pretty obvious why.

 

My car isn't the same as yours, being a first generation 2008, but the fram cabin filter fits perfectly in mine.

 

I don't know what video you are referring to but I think the arrow on the filter should point down. That is the direction that the air flows. HVAC devices do not blow air through air filters, they suck air through air filters. That by the way helps make sure that the filter is pulled down against the filter cabinet and that therefore air can't be forced around the filter. The arrow on the cover for the filter refers to the direction that the cover goes when snapping it in place – because it says "up" next to the arrow, which points up..

 

Yes the arrow on the filter should point down. The blower-sucker is sucking air through it, from below it.