Owners of other Kia, Hyundai or Genesis vehicles such as the Niro, Sportage, Sedona, Telluride, Sorento, Rio, Forte, Soul, K900, Cadenza, K5, Stinger, Tucson, Santa Fe, Kona, Palisade, Elantra, Sonata, Accent, Veloster, Ioniq, Nexo, Venue, G70, G80 and G90 may also find these DIY instructions to be helpful.

A few compatible replacement replacement air filters for the Theta II 2.4L GDI I4 engine with their part numbers include the following: Spearhead MT-942, Premium Guard PA99072, EcoGard XA10426, Fram CA11942, K&N 33-5026 and Wix WA10127.

No tools are needed to access and replace the old filter.

The first two steps are to open the hood and then move to the right rear area of the engine bay.

The rectangular shaped black plastic engine air filter housing is situated behind the 12V battery, to the left of the fuse box and in front of the brake fluid reservoir near the cowl in front of the windshield on the driver's side of the vehicle.

Swing up the access cover to view the outer edge of the filter tray.

Push down the lock tab on the left side to release it.

Grasp the small handle in the center of the filter tray before pulling it straight out of the slot.

If the old filter is dark grey or black and clogged with dirt, dust, pollen, soot, leaves, insects, hair, twigs, sand and other debris, it should be replaced with a new element.

I recommend buying the Spearhead MT-942 engine air filter since it has excellent reviews on Amazon from other Kia owners.

If you would prefer to have a more environmentally friendly option, choose the K&N 33-5026 engine air filter which can washed and re-used many times up to 100,000 miles or 10 years.

Check the filter slot in the air box for any large debris.

If necessary, clean out the slot with the crevice attachment on your vacuum cleaner.

Orientate the new air filter with the two grey plastic locking tabs facing out towards and their ends facing down towards the floor as shown in the picture above.

Make the sure the filter is fully seated.

Swing the two grey plastic lock tabs up towards the top of the air box to secure the filter in place.

Swing the access flap down over the new filter.

Firmly push on the flap to secure the two friction fasteners.

Double check that the access cover is securely attached.

Be sure to write down the filter change in your vehicle's service records.

The service interval specification in the owner's manual for changing the engine air filter is every 30,000 miles (48K KM) or at least every two years.

Please check out all of my 2016-2020 Kia Optima DIY Repair & Maintenance Guides.