So I'm ready to swap out my cabin air filter again, and I'm remembering I wasn't confident the first time on one thing:
when I drop this in, does the side with the folded-over flaps face the front of the car, or back toward the firewall?

 

Look at the arrows I see in your photo.
I was confident I knew till I saw your photo, now I too am turned around.
Can you post a pic of that filter flipped over.

 

Here ya go.

 

The arrows are correct.
The second picture shows the intake side of it.

 

Right. So those arrows point back toward the firewall and not the front of the car, correct? I get the idea of the arrows but am not sure of the airflow direction there.

 

Thats right.
in other word, the flaps go towards the firewall.

 

Can't you just look at the orientation of the current one fitted?

 

The word AIR FLOW between the two directional arrows should remove any doubt. The air is being drawn IN to the vehicle, not OUT of it.

Graham

 

That would require the confidence that the last one was installed correctly. Not always the case! In the cars I've owned I've had to redo some weird stuff when I found it.

Airflow direction shows the intake side at the back of the arrow(Shaft side), and the exit side on the pointed end of the arrow.

Since this filter is pulling outside air in just place accordingly with the direction of flow. The air being drawn into the filter would go on the shaft side of the arrow, the filtered air would be on the pointed side of the arrow on filter.

 

I am genuinely curious and you are just the person to ask, where is it going out at?

 

Full disclosure: I was the person who installed the last one. It was aftermarket, had no arrows, and in the three minutes after I pulled the original one out I'd forgotten which way it went, so I just guessed.

 

That is why convertibles are good, the roof can inflate til you open the door or a window.

 

If action movies, and Mythbusters, have taught us nothing else, if a car gets dropped in a lake it starts filling up with water. Unless you have a Tesla with "Bio-defense" mode, I think you are pretty safe to say your car leaks air. Although it wouldn't surprise me to hear modern cars are designed to run with a bit of positive pressure on the inside, similar to a hospital, to keep smells and contaminates out.

 

The luggage compartment vents.

Graham

 

<!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}-->Wait a second it had sides? I never realized that! I thought it does not matter which way it goes. I mean it is a filter and it should filter both ways. Its like a wearing a surgical masc revers. It does not matter which way or am I missing something here? I do not think that there should be any problem with it since the air is being cleansed anyway. I have a smell in my car, don't know how to fix it. The filter was not the cause of it I changed it a few times. I've been reading here about it https://www.growgardener.com/the-best-garden-tractor/ but so far can't find an explanation.

 

Quick - N - Simple

Rarely applies to Jaguars, and never to Audis.

 

Step 1. Get rid of the dog poop smell. Clean the poop off your shoes, floor mats and carpet. Use Pine-Sol and Lysol to overpower the dog poop smell. Leave the windows open to get rid of that awful smell.
Step 2. Repeat Step 1 for horse poop.

Step 3. Get rid of the mildew smell. Kill the mold in your AC ducts. Spray a mold and mildew remover into the fresh air intake for the cabin at the base of the windshield. For details, see:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...advice-213454/

Step 4. Hang a Pine Tree air freshener from your rear view mirror to show that you're done.

Step 4. Let us know when you get a Jaguar XK.

 

It DOES matter. The outside face of the (OE) filter is covered in activated charcoal, the inside face is not. Reason for this is to deodourise air entering the vehicle.

Graham

 

Exit is inside the car, your vents on dash or heater vents in footwell. Once in your car, the air is pushed out through the vents in the trunk/boot.