Owners of other Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Mazda vehicles with the Duratec 35 engine such as the Edge, Fusion, Flex, Explorer, MKX, MKZ, and Sable may also find these DIY instructions to be helpful.

A few compatible replacement filter elements include the following with their part numbers: Fram CA10242, Motorcraft FA1884, K&N 33-2395, AEM 28-20395 and Wix # 46935.

No tools are needed to replace the engine filter.

A wet/dry shop vacuum can be useful for cleaning the existing OEM element or removing debris from the lower half of the air box.

The top half of the air box is held in place by two metal latches on the left side of the air box. The rear latch is hidden out of view by the air intake hose.

Flip the two latches away from the top half of the air box to release them.

Slide the top half of the air box to the left to pull the tabs on the right side out of their slots.

Pull the old engine filter out of the lower half of the air box.

Inspect both sides of the old filter. If it is relatively clean, just tap out any large debris and remove any fine dust with a wet/dry shop vacuum.

If the old filter is dark grey or black and clogged with dirt, dust, hair, insects and/or leaves, it should be replaced with a new element.

I recommend buying the Fram CA10242 engine air filter since it has excellent reviews on Amazon.

If you prefer to have a re-usable filter that will last the life time of the car, go with the K&N 33-2395 which will need to be washed and re-oiled every 50,000 miles.

Install the new or cleaned air filter in to the bottom half of the air box with the pleats facing down and the metal screen mesh facing up towards you.

Flip up the two metal latches and snap them in place over the top half of the air box to secure it in place.

Make sure that the two halves of the air box are flush together with no parts of the air filter visible.

For more, please check out my other Ford Taurus DIY Repair Guides.