# Leaves under cabin airfilter - making noise



## inssane (Jun 20, 2011)

Hi - 

I changed my in cabin air filter, and when I went in there, tehre were tons of small dried leaved (on the top of filter). I saw them right away, and as gently as I could, removed the filter so as not to drop the leaves in the car. Inevidabley, some made it in and I couldn't reach all of them.

Now when my vent is on levels 3 and 4, it makes a whirring sound, that doesn't really sound like leaves (could the filter be in upside down, would this cause whirring?) Sometimes I can hear crispy leaves moving around too. It's terrible.

How do I get those leaves out, or fix this? I'm sure it's happened to others.

Also, how the **** did all those leaves get in there???

Nick


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## inssane (Jun 20, 2011)

I know it's only been several hours, but no one has an idea?


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## Cruze2.0Diesel (Jun 30, 2013)

Usually the blower motors are not hard to get out and then you might be able to get that stuff out with the vacuum cleaner.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Just curious to know if its possible to remove the leaves from the filter first - before removing it? Such as with a vacuum.

I know it doesn't help your situation now, but I'm thinking about the future as well as for the rest of us. 

There's tons of trees in my neighbourhood and they're dropping leaves all the time. The HVAC filter was one of the reasons I chose a Cruze with the hope that it would keep the leaves out.


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## newsguy99 (May 24, 2013)

Did you guys see the price of those filters? OMG... I"m not gonna be buying a new one from a retail store anytime soon!!!


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Here's an idea: what about using a leaf blower to back flush the HVAC system? 

Close off all vents but one. Run the leaf blower on the one open vent forcing air back up through the HVAC to glove those errant leaves back out of the plenum. 

Of course, you'd have to remove the new filter during this reverse flow. But it should work.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

You may also be able to retrieve the leaves using this tool. 

Lee Valley Tools - Important Announcement

It is what I use to remove the leaves from my eaves trough.


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## BOOSTIE (Oct 4, 2020)

I have a 2012 Cruze that I purchased 2 years ago and had the exact same experience as "Nick" when I changed my cabin air filter this past week. My filter and the entire glove box assembly was filled with dry leaves...yikes. My first question is: where does the outside air enter from before traveling to the cabin air filter and is there some type of covering that should be preventing leaves from getting sucked in?


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