Hi - I recently purchased a 2013 4S CPO with 23,000 miles. The prior owner installed a backup a camera, which the selling dealer appears to have disabled to CPO the vehicle. Unfortunately, I have not had much luck in getting info from the dealer on what, if anything they did to the camera.

When I put the car in reverse the PCM screen will "blink" as if it's trying to turn the camera on. I am hoping that the dealer did not just cut a wire somewhere. I started investigating, I pulled the PCM and did not see any unplugged wires behind the PCM. I am not sure where to look next. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

if everything looks good on the pcm side, I’d take the bumper off and look near the camera there is usually another connection there on aftermarket cams

 

Before removing the bumper, try removing the taillights. Easy DIY with a torx screw driver. Usually after market back up cameras get their power from one of the wires of the tailights. Try to look if there's traces of a wire that was added. When I installed my backup camera I added a wire in T.

 

Where is the backup camera mounted? On rear bumper just above the license plate? Or in one of the license plate’s lights? Thin black wire is the grounding wire for the camera. The OEM solid brown wire is normally the ground to chassis in the 991. The thin red wire is the positive + wire and it maybe bonded to the reverse positive wire for the backup lights at the rear bumper. The thin yellow wire is the trigger wire that is normally by the head unit (PCM). Since the backup camera was not available for the 991 in 2013 it’s very likely Porsche did not include the wiring for a backup camera. There is also a very good chance an aftermarket device like NavTV could have been installed and mounted near the PCM.

Look for a composite wire (black) about 1/8” diameter in which there are three (X3) separate wires (Black, Red, Yellow) likely 18 - 22 gauge in size incased in the black wire. This wire will run from the rear bumper to the PCM. Most logical place to fish the wire is down the center console behind the rear seats and out the rear firewall on either left or right side.

 

Thanks for the replies. The camera is mounted above the license plate. I will pop off the taillights tomorrow and see if I can find anything.

 

I pulled the taillights and found the connection on the drivers side. There is a black wire that is wired into the taillight and appears to still be connected to the camera. The wire seems to run along the drivers side. Before I pull the PCM again, is there a "brain box" somewhere that I should be looking for? Suggestions on where to look next before pulling the PCM?

Thank you!

 

Can you ask the previous owner the vendor of aftermarket camera solution they had installed?
Then you can look at install instructions / videos online and figure out if there is an external interface box (navtv, +many others,) connected to the pcm, or if there is a board installed inside the pcm (isudar, + many others).

Or, do a search on "backup camera" on this forum and entertain yourself for hours reading at least 10 threads on backup cameras. I'm not sure if the link will work,
991 backup camera search results

 

Follow where the black wire on the driver side leads you in the cab. There is a good chance the interface box was placed above the brake pedal along the steering column, or just above knee airbag panel. You can also check the side panel at the accelerator pedal as well. Finally, check behind the PCM or at the footwell behind the carpet on the passenger side.

 

The dealer tech does not remember what he did to disable the camera, he only remembers that he disabled it.

I pulled the PCM again this morning and did not find anything disconnected or an additional box behind the PCM. Here a couple of pictures of the back of the PCM. The only splice that I think might not be factory is the one in the second picture where a black wire appears to have been added to the group of colored wires.

 

Did you trace out the black wire from the rear on the driver’s side? Does it go under the carpet floorboard, or up the kick panel into the fuse box? Finding the termination point where the wire is bonded/connected will help answer your dilemma.

 

Thanks for confirming that's the wire I should trace. I have not put the PCM all the way back in, will trace tomorrow morning.

 

I was finally able to pull back the carpet and I found some type of control box. I have reached out to AV Electronic via email and phone, so far nothing. Not much on their website. Anyone happen to have any idea what this is or does?

 

Based on the picture above I found this info
Car-solutions interface
The web site has an installation manual you can look at to reverse engineer what you have installed.
Download manual

From my quick review I also see the little black box in the photo as part of the power cable shown in the install manual. It appears there is a board installed inside the pcm.

Use this info at your own risk. It's just what I could find searching the internet matching the interface box of your installation. It shows the backup camera connection and dip switch setting. Look at the easy stuff first, power, ground, connections.

DId you get the remote control?

Good luck, I hope this helps.