Greetings all, this is my first ever post on this site though I have gotten tons of good info here over the past couple of years....

A quick summary of what leads to my question...A few months back, my wife backed out of the garage with the rear liftgate up (helpful hint: if the backup camera is showing a view of the garage ceiling, do NOT back out). The liftgate scraped along the bottom of the garage door, slightly denting in the area around the '4runner' trim panel. I went to a couple of body shops for quotes to fix and they all told me that I would need to replace the liftgate for around $3,500 +/-. Because the damage was not terribly noticable, and worst-case I would need a new liftgate anyway, I decided to try and improve this myself first.

I removed the interior panel and from the inside I was able to massage the dent to improve the way it looks quite a bit. However, as I was tapping on this from the inside of the liftgate, the outer piece of the backup camera popped off (see photos). When I was done with everything else I pressed this piece back on but now i get no picture. I tried rotating it 180-degrees (the 6 tabs/pins only line up the one way) and still no picture. I asked at the dealer if there was something that needs reset and I was told that they would have to replace the camera, at around $750 (not happening).

So my question for you is, is this camera just broken beyond repair? Or is there something that can be done to reattach it then reset so it works again? Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Attached Images

       

Looks like it snapped off.

Super glue?

If you tape the camera in place firmly, does it still work?

Maybe you are not making full contact with the pads?

are any of the little spring like pins bent, or flatter than the others?

It doesn't look like any of the little tabs are bent any more or less than all of the others. Also, when I put it back in place and press it on it seems to be on there pretty solidly, just no picture on the screen...

You mentioned doing some bodywork from behind after taking off the interior panel. Any chance the wire harness got disconnected/damaged. I know it's like phone support asking you if it's plugged in, but... I've had that whole garnish, along with the camera, door latch, and lights off. I could see how something might get missed.

I’m fairly certain there was no damage done to any of the wiring, but if all else fails I could pull the panel again this weekend and double check. Good idea