All,
Unfortunately this thread is not about the full install, but rather a second attempt. There's other threads on here that were helpful, but pics have disappeared, so I'm posting this to refresh some of the knowledge base here.
I originally bought a cheap camera off of eBay, because I figured 'every camera is a camera is a camera'. But I wasn't very pleased with the performance. I thought by searching 4runner back up camera on eBay, I would simplify the process, but I ended up buying another camera on Amazon which is a better product. I wish I had gone that route initially, so here's this thread.
Here's the original camera I purchased. I liked this one because it didn't force to use an attached LED license plate light, and it basically came ready to install. No hole drilling in the car or figuring out where to mount the camera.
Here's the newer one, it's metal and just seems higher quality.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00P9...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The wiring harness doesn't have the big ass rca connectors so it's easier to mount anywhere as you don't need to drill as big a hole if you choose to mount elsewhere. For that reason alone, it's worth it.
The new harness also doesn't have the red power connector, it just has 2 wires. This is a problem for me since I've already routed the older cameras wires. I ended up cutting the red connector off the old camera and stripping away the shielding with a razor and using butt connectors to add that to the new wire harness and it worked perfectly. It was like 24 gauge wire and super thin. I stripped a decent length of wire and just rolled it and folded a few times to make it thicker for a good connection. In retrospect, it would have been easier to cut the connectors off on both ends and just use quick disconnects or something.
Luckily the old camera unscrewed right out of the little plastic light cover. I cut the cord, and then estimated where I should drill the new hole in the plastic for my new camera. I ended up putting silicone on top as a method to help keep water out inside the light household. I also used silicone sealant on top of the light housing and grommet that I sliced into. The tail light housing has a much bigger hole than necessary because my first camera had to push the big connectors through there. The new camera has a single wire, so you can drill a tiny hole for that. And in the grommet as well, I've seen online where sliced a little hole and pushed it through rather than cut into the side like I had to, due to the size of the RCA connectors.
W
Used electrical tape to cover most of hole then silicone over that
Installed and back on. My wiring harness routes along the factory harness towards the left side of the vehicle to get routed through the electrical black tunnel between the lift gate and car. I followed it closely and on the far left side left some slack in case the window snags it, but had no issues when I rolled the window down. Others have so just think about that as you're routing your wires. I ended up having about 2ft of extra wire with my new camera so I just routed righ and then back left. No big deal.
My wires inside come down by the left tail light and hug the wheel well and down into the passenger and driver door sills. My video cable was too short I initially so I routed another. Both my power and video cables commect under my driver side passenger door sill. Easy to get to. Again, I had a lot of excess cable between the 2 video cables so I just ran it back and forth along the sill to tidy it up.
Also just ahead I popped off the bottom seat belt panel and grounded the camera to a bolt behind that. 31Ft lbs for the seat belt bolt. But you can do it almost anywhere.
I ended up tying the camera into a corolla/Scion radio
PT546-00160 - 2016+ Scion Head Unit and used this adaptor.
It's awesome because it makes getting 12v power very easy. But, the plug into the radio required some dremeling to get it to fit. Don't know if that's the norm or what. Also it came with an additional wire for the reverse wire. This blew my mind because I could not figure this out, but it was simple. I just plugged that individual wire into the correct pin hole on the connector and tapped into a specific wire in the driver door sill, and the camera finally worked.
I have seen plenty of threads referencing a red and yellow wire in the driver door sill, but had a really hard time finding the one they were talking about. Finally took a stab in the dark and my gamble worked. My particular wire was buried in the center of the look toward the bottom. It's red, and has a yellow lateral stripe along the entire wire.
That's the general gist. I used quick disconnects for the wiring inside the care so I could replace components later if they failed, and I'm glad I did because I did this about a week after my initial install. I also put little labels on the wires so I can remember later what each wire is. I also used a coat hangar to push the video cable through the black rubber wiring tube at the top of the lift gate. I taped it to the hangar. About half way through the hanger broke loose and I had to 'squeeze it through'. It sucked, but was not as bad as I had thought.
Original camera
Pretty good image quality, but I felt it was a pretty narrow image.
New camera
It's a smidge lower on the top, but as you'll note, a lot more is visible on the sides, and now I can see my bumper instead of relying solely on some arbitrary colored lines overlayed on the image.
This was long, but hopefully helps someone in the future.
Back up / reverse camera install
Linear Mode
