Many thanks for your instructions. I would have had the dash apart (in the same way as the E36) had it not been for this helpful article.

It is hard to discover much about the Compact - it's sort of E36 and sort of something else ! I have to be very careful when looking at the manual.

My car had been regularly serviced by a BMW main dealer up to 12,000 miles ago. I don't think they found out where the filters were either as the assembly clearly hadn't been disturbed from new (100k MILES ago). They are BLACK and full of seeds and hairs and other detritus that can only have accumulated in 100,000 MILES.

So many thanks for the message - regards from Jim B

Mine are worse than yours !
 

If the attachment has worked - this is what my filters looked like this morning. I now have NO filters in (like my other cars).

Reply to "should I replace my filters"

Took my blackened filters out today - and haven't replaced them. None of my other cars have filters and we live in a fresh air part of the country.

The only problem I could see arising would be fine particles getting into the fan motor bearings; I hope BMW have specified a better motor than the E30's had !

I have had mine out for almost a year now and have had no troubles except for extra dust on the dash. Nothing major, but more than with the filters. I just have to wipe it down a little more often.

here are mine!!! not that bad but bad enough for a change.

Same Here it's the price that is keeping me from replacing them.

Wash em out and save $40
 

Since they are made of cloth rather than paper you can wash them out. I removed very black filters then took the shop vac to them to remove the loose leaves and seeds and whatever else was caught in the pleats. Then I took them inside to the sink and flooded them with water (you should have seen all the black crud wash out of the filters). Still not very clean so I used some dawn dish washing soap and a little goes a long way. I got a tooth brush down in between the pleats for a little scrubbing action then flooded it again with water. Not like brand new but very clean. Then I took the air compressor to blow all the water out of them. A few rapid shakes and a hair dryer will also work to dry them out. I then sprayed them down with an air freshener (Lysol Green Apple scent) lightly then replaced them into their pods. Now when I drive down the road with the vents open I get an air freshened green apple smell! I wonder what's making me so hungry lately for grandma's apple pie?

I second atk350's suggestion of washing the filters. I just send mine through the washing machine every other replacment interval. Removes about 90% of the dirt. I suppose upper rack of dishwasher would work too. I've attached before and after photos below.

micro filter cleaning
 

I also did not want to spend $40 for new filters so I used hot water and a strong batch of Oxyclean to wash them after I gently removed all the really big stuff. The water was black after the first washing (about 30 minutes of soaking) so I did it a second time. The filters came out just a little off-white but they looked really clean. I dried them after tapping some of the water out - don't use too much air or you can damage the filter fibers.

The heating and cooling system works like new again.

are these instructions the same on a 318IS coupe? m44 engine

I'm going to say no.

that sux. the dealer charged me 69.00

replace microfilter 316ti
 

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anyone can post some pictures to show us the steps, it will be more eazy for us to to look at them and follow the steps. thanx..:cool:

http://www.unofficialbmw.com/e36/int...crofilter.html

Vic

you are the best
 

vic: thank you soooo much thats help me alot, i change it with less than 30 min everything went very smoothly. :wave::wave::wave::wave::wave::smile:THANX