I decided to do some basic 30,000 mile maintenance myself since, as the second owner, I knew it missed its third year JLR dealer appointment. Holy cow! I've never had to work so hard to replace a $20 part. I wouldn't recommend it unless you love being uncomfortably contorted in a foot well for a couple of hours while cursing at T-27 screws. Live and learn. I'm glad that I did, though, as what I found after just under 30k miles in this filter was ... well, horrid. I've never seen an in cabin filter like this before. The former owner had the car in NYC and I can only think that that had a lot to do with the state of it. Yuck!

I'm also not sure what the black foam crumbles are. I'd love any ideas about what that may be from. The bellows that seals the filter didn't seem to have anything like that integral to it. I got in there with a bit of small, long tubing I taped into a shopvac to remove it all. My best guess is that since this vehicle had a windshield replacement perhaps it was something that "fell through the cracks" during installation.

I replaced the original OEM filter with and it was a perfect fit. https://www.jaguarforum.com/threads/jaguar-xf-x260-pollen-cabin-filter-replacement.105544/ from another, very similarly named, forum was helpful if you're a masochist and compelled to do this job yourself.

 

If that stuff came from the air in NYC, be glad you're not living there !

 

Thanks for the heads up. I got mine changed with the 5 year dealer service, at 21k miles and it looked perfectly clean. So I kept it thinking that would be a DIY savings someday.
Someday when I am younger and more limber than now.
P.

 

Just seeing this now - I had something similar at 25k only! And it wasn't clear where this foam came from. Mine was combined with some twigs/leaves for sure, but the foam looked to be trim or synthetic material that was used to seal something. Mine was also starting to smell musty/moldy with the A/C on any time it was damp or wet out side.

 

Interesting! That does look a lot like the crumbly foam I found in mine.

 

I was convinced I had a rodent nest until seeing your post, not sure what makes me feel better / worse, knowing that all XF's might do this, or that I have a little friend in the garage haha.

 

Mold?

 

Thank you guys for the reminder. I need to check on mine too. My oh my...how did I missed checking the Cabin Air Filter?