My right front camera on my C7 Stingray is cracked.


Can anyone tell me how to replace it. I have a new one ordered.
Jamesgn

 

Off subject but can you add front cameras to a 2015 that doesn't have the front, just the rears? Thanks

 

 

At this point, no. You'd need the newer infotainment system from the 2016s along with the cameras and the video processing module. There's still no guarantee it'd actually work.

 

Actuaslly you can add front cameras with the Navtool electronics. Search for the Geezer Navtool thread. That'll get you one camera. You can add 2 with some additional electronics.

 

The Navtool works great. I've had it on my car at least 2 years and I love it.

 

You will have to remove the bumper cover.

 

There is at least one good video on youtube that will guide you through removing the cover. It's not difficult because I've done it on mine.

 

I had the same thing happen. Service would be expensive as it would involve the labor to remove the cowl. The camera itself is (relatively) inexpensive. All told about $600 to change what looks to be a 10 cent plastic cover! It would appear that cover snaps over the lens and has no influence on the camera optics. Has anyone been able to find just the lens cover? My hope is that I can carefully pick the shattered cover out of the assembly and then *snap* a new cover in place. Or am I just engaging in wishful thinking?

 

I ordered the camera, then got the bumper cover off. Found out there were two issues, one the camera cord on the new one was about 6 inches long, the one installed was about 18" long. Secondly, the camera is "welded" into the grill assembly. Its just plastic welded, but it seemed it would be too much of a pita to try to melt out and then install the new one, melt it back in and then also splice the connecter wires from the old one, so I just ordered an entire grill and replaced it whole. I still have the old grill, i can send pics of the back of the camera mount if you would like me to. I actually got a PM from a member with a stingray grill with cameras, i think he was in Chicago too.

Tim

 

Wouldn't mind that pic, if for no other reason than to satisfy my curiosity about the engineering. Hearing that the camera part is not a snap out/in and cable short to boot does not encourage me. BTW, I've already swapped in a new grille to get some better cooling over the front discs. I watched the techs swap it out, removing the cowling etc. Still doesn't feel like a task I can take on in my spare time, hence the desire to figure out a way to do that lens swap. Thanks for the info!
--John

 

Here are a few pics.
Camera unit showing the integrated lens.
welding on the back of the grill. The two screws would hold the camera in place too.

Cord length difference.

TRS88 is the member that wrote me and said he had one when i was looking for a grill. I was impatient and ordered one from the dealer before he got back to me, but he is in the Chicago area.

 

Thanks for the pix Tim, They confirm my suspicions about 'service' NOT being a consideration in the design. UGH. You would think they would make a part that exposed to road debris a little more accessible. Of course, I shouldn't be surprised. To change the headlamp on my '07 Yukon, I have to loosen the entire front cowl AND open up the wheel well liner to get at the retention bolts holding the lighting assembly. The plastic weld crap and potential splicing may be enough to drive me to cough up the money and let the shop deal with it. Amazed that the replacement part doesn't have the correct cable length. Thanks again!
--John

 

Shade50, often you get items like this changed out cheaper at a body shop vs a dealer.

 

I realize I am bumping a bit of an old thread, but I had all of the same issues. You can see from my pic that the cable is too short by half, maybe more. I saw this thread before ordering my GM camera part, but there is no other camera part listed for these cars that I could find, and this is just wrong.

It cost me $103 for the camera and the dealership quoted over $1000 to do the repair, so... guess I'm going to splice some wires.


Original camera is still installed, with backing plate melted to the grill. I will unmelt or cut these and epoxy it back, I guess.

Part number I ordered, for anyone else thinking of ordering it.

 

I ended up just ordering another grill assembly, it had both the cameras in it. It was around $500-600
if i remember correctly

 

I had to do this repair on my 2016 about a year ago. I wish I had the invoice with the part number, but I did not have a "short" harness, mine fit up fine. And there were screws holding the camera in place, not a plastic weld. Not sure what's changed between now and then?

 

You can see the screws in both of the photos posted. I don't know why anyone is saying it needs to be cut apart.

 

A little more info now that I've had some daylight to examine everything and get it apart.

First, note that this is a 2017 Z06 grille, not aftermarket or anything.

Second, it's not necessary to do anything with the plastic welded part. There are two T20 screws holding the camera cover in place. Remove these and the camera cover will come off the front of the grille.

Third, just two small Phillips head screws holding the camera in place. I couldn't figure out how to get the wire clip undone non-destructively, so I clipped it and I will use a small zip tie to hold it back in place.

Fourth, the part number that came off my grille IS DIFFERENT. ALL of the online parts stores have this incorrect. They're all using the same database and software, so it's not surprising. The actual part is this # is 23506691, here: https://www.tascaparts.com/oem-parts/gm-camera-23506691
The couple of parts suppliers I checked all say this doesn't fit a 2017 Z06. Either they're wrong, or my part is labeled wrong. Since the part they do say fit DOESN'T fit, then I suspect they're just wrong. Both cameras appear to be the same, though the GM part number and some of the other part numbers are different. I tested the GM #84185770 camera and the picture looks fine.

In the end, no cable splicing is necessary. Just remove the two small screws from the back of each of the old and new cameras, and swap the cables. Had I realized this, I wouldn't have needed to cut the clip holding the longer wire in place.


Just remove these to get the old camera out.

This was the actual part in my Z06 (GM # 23506991) which all of the GM parts sites say is NOT correct for my 2017 Z06.


This is the part I ordered (GM # 84185770) and which all of the GM parts sites say is correct for my 2017 Z06


The two screws on the camera can be removed and the cables swapped.


Both cameras. Original out of my grille is on the right.


Worked like a charm.

If you order the part with the longer cable, it's slightly more expensive (about $8 when I checked). If you have an in-tact cable it seems you can probably do like I did and order the slightly cheaper piece and swap the cables out.

Also, it's likely that you could do this for about $10 + shipping with parts from AliExpress. I found what I think is an identical camera. However, it was mounted to another piece with RCA connectors. Removing that exposed a 6 pin connector, but the raised, female plug was missing. I'm sure with a little bit of solder that could be fixed easily enough, but you may need to guess at the wiring. Still... < $20 and some elbow grease better than $1000+ dealer quote.

 

The information from this post gave me the confidence to change my front camera today. I was glad to see that it didn't require melting the plastic weld. I wanted to post my pictures to help clarify some of the text that I saw.
I have a 2016 Stingray 3LT. I found that my part number was GM #23506692 (Right Side). It had the correct length of cable right out of the box. The cable that was on the original was longer, but it was folded up and taped to the length of the one that I purchased. I had to remove 2 secure TORX and then the cable slid right through the opening and the new one slid right back in and tightened down. I had an issue with the secure TORX stripping so I replaced them with normal screws with washers. Small issue with the connector that held the cable with zip tie connection. With some heads up I would have replaced this completely, but I made it work. Going to attach pictures for clarity.