I was one of the lucky ones from the Fires that hit San Diego County. I live in Rancho Bernardo and had to evacuate my family...Our house survived (unlike allot of our neighbors). My Prius was left behind... I have smoke damage, but looks like I will be able to get the smell out with a thorough carpet cleaning. My question is, I know of the cabin filter that I will have replaced, but is there an Air Filter in the engine compartment like other cars have.? (It may be a dumb question, so bear with me..) I just did the first oil change 5000k service right before the fires. I don't know If I need to take it back to service dept. to have the filter changed out or not? Thanks in advance!!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Nbnverb @ Nov 8 2007, 07:46 PM) [snapback]536949[/snapback]</div> Yes, there is an air filter on top of the engine. This filter & the cabin filter are easy to replace. I ordered ~$100 worth of filters online and split the order with a coworker. The online prices (from a dealer) are significantly lower than the local dealers walk in price.
If you're talking about the standard engine-air filter, I wouldn't expect that to require changing. The engine wasn't running during the fires, so it wouldn't have drawn in any smoky air. The majority of the smoke smell is from the car's interior materials. There's probably smoke deposited into all the air ducts and the cabin filter, but that isn't nearly as much as what's in the carpets and seat cushions.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hoop @ Nov 9 2007, 08:26 PM) [snapback]537527[/snapback]</div> cute avatar
I would contact a fire restoration company and have them work on your Prius. The smoke is going to be a lot harder to remove than you think and will probably require removing and cleaning the carpeting, all the seats, the headliner, and ozone smogging the entire car from the inside. There are companies that do this all the time, but carpet shampooing isn't going to do it.
