[supramani]

After owning and driving my Tiago for more than 8K kms, its always a joy to ride on. For the service part, first and second service was done on time.
Being in Chennai and the summers are nearing, I found that the A/C cooling was not that great when compared to new one. Though it was reported during second service it was not looked upon and it was running that way.
Today was a dayoff, and I decided it take it a look myself. Thought of looking at the cabin filter first.

It was a easy 10 minutes job to remove, clean and reassemble the parts.

Tools required: a star screw driver.

The A/C unit is underneath the passenger side dashboard and no glove box to be removed here.




Step1: Look beneath the A/C unit to find the Filter compartment which is held by 4 screws. Unscrew it using a star screw driver.



step2 : After unscrewing 4 screws, push the clip which is located at the corner slightly to remover the bottom filter holder.


silicon paste has been used to seal the gaps.

Step3: clean the bottom filter holder of any deposits and keep it aside.



step4: remove the Cabin filter from the Bottom of the unit. I was shocked to see that the filter was completely chocked and no air can pass through it.Sorry forgot to take pic of the chocked filter. Was A/C filter cleaning not in the part of the service?

The filter is kind of a mesh type and the plastic surround was too fragile. surely will break if twisted.

Cleaned the filter in running water and removed all the muck that was deposited.


See the colour of water after the dirt was removed from the filter.

Step5: Let the Clean filter sit for a while to dry.


Clean Cabin filter Assembly.

Step6: push the filter from bottom-underneath the unit as you have taken it out and repeat the process to screw back the filter holder. Make sure to fully tight the screws back. The filter is too fragile and handle it carefully when fixing it back.

After the cleaning process, the air throw was increased considerable and the cabin cooled faster than before. now the A/C is working very good without any problem.

Thank you.

[Cruiser_D]

Good Job Supramani. I don't think the service center guys would voluntarily check these things during free service schedule.

But indeed it is nice to see that Tata has provided cabin air filter in Tiago. Have not seen this in many entry segments. Honda Brio & Amaze did lack this, not sure whether this got added in the facelift version.

Cabin air filter controls the dust coming inside and would probably enhance the life of evaporator cooling coil, which is the most commonly replaced unit in AC circuit system.

[dailydriver]

Nice to see a cabin air filter in Tiago. It should normally be cleaned during the routine service. Not cleaning it would result in the AC performance going down. The customer would then be taken for a ride by the Service Centre and shown such attractions as AC duct cleaning, cooling enhancement etc.

Indian driving conditions compulsorily require a cabin air filter although many manufacturers skimp on this basic necessity.

Next time, do try cleaning the blower compartment.

Thanks for posting this useful information.

[msaudf]

Nice job! Looks like Tata has started fitting these filters for most of their small cars. The Tata Nano also has a similar filter (the same mesh type), these filters have a tendency to get clogged quicker than the conventional paper type filters.
The big advantage is that they can be cleaned and reused.
But while cleaning the filters they have to be handled with care as the frames tend to break.
A telltale sign to a clogged filter is lesser air throw, so whenever you feel like the AC isn't blowing enough air, you've got a clogged filter.
Oh and kindly check if you really need to actually refit all the screws for the filter cover to hold, maybe the clips on the sides may be sufficient for the lid to be attached to the unit.

[ank_bhp]

Great job Supramani.
I recently visited Punjab on the way I was so annoyed by the A/C as it had stopped cooling the cabin, I switched the fan blower speed to 4th and still I was wondering why my A/C has such a poor performance. And yesterday I some how managed to reach this thread. Did cleaning of filter by my own yesterday and now the cooling is as good as the time I bought the car. Mine has just clocked 11,000 Kms.
Just wanted to know is there any filter cleaning period?
Kindly share.
Thank you so much!

[coldice4u]

Thanks for the photos ! This will surely make the job a lot more easier. Does anyone know if the paper type filters available on other cars is better than the mesh type filter here? Somehow the paper type filters appear more effective , going by the looks at least.

[pcpranav]

Originally Posted by supramani

After the cleaning process, the air throw was increased considerable and the cabin cooled faster than before. now the A/C is working very good without any problem.

Thank you.

came across this thread - awesome work, kudos.
incidentally, few days back I did similar cleaning of cabin filter for my relative's Tata Tigor.
I have made a video of the process :

https://youtu.be/3C03EgE0Y8c

regards,
Pranav