The 20 Degree Backup Camera

Jan 8, 2017

Yesterday was the coldest day by far in recent memory, with a high temperature of about 24 degrees. But I had made an obligation to an elderly lady with an older Toyota Sienna to get her backup camera working, and considering how heavy my current backlog is, it was an appointment I did not want to break. I had taken a cursory look at it a few weeks ago when I was at her home resolving an unrelated stereo problem, and determined that the camera itself might be defective, but I did not have a spare with me at the time, nor the proper equipment to make a sure diagnosis, nor for that matter enough time to do the work. So yesterday I spent an hour shoveling snow out of my driveway at home, drove the treacherous icy roads to the shop, and spent another hour clearing enough space in my parking lot to park my own car and work on her van, should she turn up at the appointed time.

She did. I advised her that the repair might be time consuming, because the camera had been installed by someone else and I might have to take a lot of interior body parts off to resolve the problem. She was content to wait, with her sister for company, as I proceeded to bundle up in my colder-than-the-coldest-cold attire and began to dismantle the interior of the van. It took about fifteen minutes for my fingertips to begin to freeze. I went inside to thaw them.

I had to removed the panel from the back hatch, and the trim around the back window and the driver side windows and doors to expose the wiring. I found that unlike every other aftermarket backup camera I’ve ever seen, there was no connection at the backup lamp in the rear hatch, even though it was only inches from the camera. Instead, the installer had spliced into the factory wiring in the front driver side footwell. Strange choice, but I confirmed that it was working, in other words that was not the problem. Again I had to retreat from the cold outdoors to thaw my fingertips.

I brought out my spare camera and hooked it up at that point, and connected it to the rear view mirror monitor, confirming that the monitor worked when the vehicle was shifted into reverse. I then hooked up my own monitor to her camera and confirmed that it was not working. I had examined the wiring and found no apparent fault, but it was still possible that there was a break. I cut the wire harness at the back hatch and tested each wire. Apparently there was a break somewhere, but I couldn’t see it. No matter, there was only one choice remaining – install a new wire harness, and by necessity the camera it was designed for. But first, back inside to thaw.

By this time I had spent two hours working on the van, but my customer was patient and understanding. I installed the new camera and wire harness, connecting it to her existing mirror monitor, and it worked like a charm. All that was left was reassembly of the interior trim. As soon as I thawed out my fingers.

In all it took me about three hours to complete the work. I charged her for 2.5, and she was happy to pay and grateful for the work under far less than ideal conditions. Before they left, her sister made an appointment with me to look at her conversion van.

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