Has anyone out there figured out how to modify the outdoor air vent intake to accept a cabin filter? 2008 H3 Alpha. There has got to be a way. Has been bugging me since 2008. The brainiac engineers at Hummer never got that far likely figuring that an H3 Alpha would never be taken off road. I wear a dust mask when following someone on a dusty road. Then the fine dust cleanup inside the cabin ends up being an all day project. BTW, turning on air recirculate with A/C is not the answer when crawling over passes in the Rockies in the summer.

 

I just put in on recirculate. No outside dusty air coming in through the vents.

I wheel with my windows down anyway so I can hear my rig.

 

Actually, the engineers at Hummer/GM were very well aware that the Alpha would be used off-road; the H3 was designed specifically, from the ground up, to be the best stock off-road vehicle of it's size available.

A cabin filter will never stop outside dust from dry off-road conditions from entering. You need to use the recirculate mode; that's pretty much what it's for. Why do you say that it's "not the answer when crawling over passes in the Rockies in the summer"? I use the recirculate option with A/C anytime I off-road, and I'm doing so in the summer, in SoCal (dust, heat, etc). Most vehicles built up till the mid 2010's did not have cabin filters; many built even today still don't.

Ultimately, I suppose you could figure out where the intake is (I believe it is under the front cowl somewhere, below the wipers) and try to jury-rig a filter there, but...I've never heard of it being done, and would IMO be way more trouble than it's worth.

 

650Hawk, thanks for the insights. Recirc air with AC on puts me into overheat mode mighty fast....even with the RPMs up to circulate the coolant. I'll just continue not to follow the guy ahead of me to closely and enjoy the fresh air with windows down. There are times up here when that means backing off a half mile or so. Happy exploring!

 

10-4. I like to hear my rig too.

 

Interesting. The only time I've ever had mine get hot and require me to turn the A/C off was when I was towing a trailer/float for the local Boys & Girls Club in a parade at idle/walking speeds, in 100 degree heat. Temps would climb to about 220 (reading from a scangauge) after about 15 minutes and I would turn the A/C off; it would drop back to 200; lather rinse repeat! I've never had it get hot while wheeling because I'm always at least a little bit above idle and moving faster than walking speeds.

Maybe change out your coolant, flush the system, change the thermostat?