Migrate 17 trunk to a 15 with Backup Cam?
 

Hi Guys, Has anyone swapped a 2017+ trunk onto a 13-15? Did you incorporate the backup cam?

I have been looking through threads and wiring diagrams and still can't quite wrap my head around how to tackle this.

I replaced my 2015 Trunk Lid with a 2017 lid, When I did so I noticed the harness to connect license plate lighting and trunk latch release was different. I figured it shouldn't be too big of a deal to order a new harness and repin the wires from trunk.... But then that shiny OEM backup cam caught my eye, and now I'd like to utilize that. Clearly the wiring is not run for the camera itself from the head unit to the trunk harness, So i am thinking I will do this:

-Snip off 2017 Trunk wire harness and repin to the 2015 style (this will leave me the 4 wires that run the cam, I will pin these into a 4 port harness)

- Run the 4 aforementioned wires from Head to Trunk, then pin a 4 plex on each end, and plug up at the trunk.

I thought that I saw in a YT vid that the stock head units already have a receiving connection for a backup cam? If so I would just pin into that.

Any thoughts on if this harebrained scheme will work? Or am I missing something simple, or overthinking?

Thanks!

This "Kind of" worked, Just on the off chance anyone is ever looking for the info I couldn't find, this Is what I wound up having to do.





After installing the new trunk I realized the harnesses in the trunk were different. using a wiring diagram easily found on the fourms I de-pinned the Harness from the both trunks, and repinned the New trunk, with the old harness. This took care of the Trunk latch opened and the license plate lights, However this left me with the 4 wires that power the backup cam system.

I identified these wires and labeled them, and left hanging.
https://i.imgur.com/0BYVeZ0.jpg



Now to pull the signals from my existing head unit I grabbed this adapter off amazon.

Thanks to user Nick I finally found the wiring diagram for the 16 pin that goes into the Head unit . -

Using the above info I was able to determine that these 4 wires on the left would be the ones I was dealing with to run camera. ( I left nearly all the wires inrtact though just in case)
https://i.imgur.com/16pU1wh.jpg

I labeled 4 long wires at each end, to match up with my labels in the trunk, then cut and stripped the 4 from the harness. I spliced them into the correct position and soldered them all up, then heatshrink.
https://i.imgur.com/WyLWeIW.jpg

I also Snipped off and capped the Yellow Male video connector, as that signal was already provided in the harness from the head unit.

(There is also a supply 6v+ single red wire coming from the harness. I had to clip it, and cap the end with shrinkwrap as it would inadvertently contact some bare metal behind the HU and that would kill the camera feed)
https://i.imgur.com/kta35M2.jpg

Next I unplugged the 16pin from my head unit (the one that has a single grey wire) and plugged that into the amazon harness that I just soldered. Then Plugged that harness directly into the head unit.


Now I ran the 4 long wires (remember they were labeled at both ends) all the way back to the trunk. I followed the many videos online about running wires in the 86. A $2.99 trim puller set from harbor fright was my best friend here..

Finally, one at a time I snipped the excess wire, then matched up my labels, and soldered in the trunk each wire. This was the toughest part, just because soldering in the trunk is hard enough, not to mention the wires themselves were short and closely bunched to begin with. This is a poor pic, and ultimately I cleaned up and zip tied the install nicely.
https://i.imgur.com/U8ENlJo.jpg


After that It was as simple as putting trim back on, and It is good to go. I Should mention I have only just taught myself to Solder (adding the valenti 3rd brakelight to this car) so I am by no means any expert, and I was able to handle it, just go slow.

The one problem is: 2015 head units broadcast parking lines (cannot be turned off in options)

2017 Head units do not, but 2017 OEM cams DO show parking lines. As a work around I just used the head unit options to get the lines as close together as I could. It is still a bit offset, but I can live with it. Some cams have a small wire you can snip to get rid of the in-cam park lines, but I did not see on this one. I could also swap out the cam itself with a non-line cam if it really starts to bother me.

So Viola! A stupid complicated answer to a problem that shouldn't be so hard... lol

This writeup helped tremendously identifying the wires! On mine, I skipped the harness, made my own RCA connector and powered it through my 3rd brake light. Also might want to add a 12v to 6v stepdown to be safe too.