Replacing the cabin air filter in a Chevy Bolt should be a part of “regular maintenance.” One source said the cabin air filter should be replaced every 10,000 miles.
We have 30,000 miles on our 2020 Bolt and never replaced the filter. Come to think of it. I don’t remember replacing the cabin air filter in any of the vehicles we’ve owned. Maybe we did, but I don’t remember it, certainly not as well as I remember replacing the engine air filter on carbureted cars of long ago.
This is one of the few things the home mechanic can do. The manual even describes how.
There are plenty of YouTube videos on how to do it. Here’s one.
2017 – 2021 Chevy Bolt EV Cabin Filter Replacement
I learned about this from a video of Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield on Transport Evolved, but I couldn’t find it on YouTube. It might be for her Patreon subscribers only.
Expect some frustration and more effort than is implied in the videos and the Bolt manual. The process is easy enough and straightforward. However, there is a tab or bump on the attachment for the damper. The manual says simply, “reconnect the glove box damper.”
Yeah right. Fitting the damper attachment over that little knob was a struggle. I don’t know how they do it at the assembly plant, but it wasn’t easy for me. I got it finally after applying a little bit of lube.
Here’s the filter I took out. The first photo is the clean side. The second is the outside facing portion of the filter. Yes, long overdue for replacement. We live in a very dusty locale. Some call Bakersfield a “dusty cow town” but that isn’t quite accurate, a “dusty oil town” fits the bill better.
