DIY Gen1 R1T rear bumper camera replacement

[Riviot]

My rear bumper camera has gotten progressively worse, unsure if it was the lens or water or what, but I'm out of warranty and over the terrible view. So I decided to do it myself.

Here's the old cam:

I can see a water droplet that would never evaporate.

Fun fact: side cameras are identical to the front and rear bumper cameras. Rivian wants $400-450 new for those cameras with the mounts already attached, I couldn't find the rear for less than $300 used in eBay, so after comparing the backs of a few online I rolled the dice on a new $100 side mirror camera. Spoiler: IT WORKS!

I followed instructions in the collision center that I cannot share because the @RivianRat ratted me out before. You have to take off the hitch cover then bumper, there's 9 10mm bolts attached along the bottom, 2 T20 torx on the sides behind each rear wheel, and 1 10mm bolt above those behind the trim. Pro tip: put painters tape on that part when you pull it off to prevent scratching paint.

Start prying it off with a non-marring tool and disconnect the camera and sensor connector on the right side.

Then you disconnect the camera plug and use a T20 to remove the camera.

To swap the camera, it's an itty bitty Torx, smaller than 8, don't know the size but I happened to have it in my watch repair kit!

Do everything in reverse, with a beer, and little patience. It'll go great, trust me. Minimal cursing. Maximal drinking.

Edit to add: Final step I should mention, it'll say cameras and sensors don't work after you unplug and replug then. Just give it a sleep cycle and everything is back to normal.

And voila: I can see!

Seeing my hitch extender again, it reminds me of when my old man lost a lot of weight and said, "Hey, I can see my again!"

10/10 recommend. Now I want to know what Rivian will charge for this...

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[Rivan]

thank you for sharing this. I am wondering if the gen 2 camera is compatible?

 

[FinalJump]

Do everything in reverse, with a beer, and little patience. It'll go great, trust me. Minimal cursing. Maximal drinking.

Hehe. I see you've owned trucks a while, like I have. I appreciate the documentation. You'd think Riv would want people to do their own work since their SC's are so overloaded.

 

[Riviot]

thank you for sharing this. I am wondering if the gen 2 camera is compatible?

Send me one and let's find out! I really want to test it now, I thought I saw pics of different plugs, but now I can't find any on eBay. $537 new.

I do know the EDV cameras are the same, saw a couple on eBay with identical plug and screw pattern.

You'd think Riv would want people to do their own work since their SC's are so overloaded.

Charging $250/hr while paying $24-36/hr, they'd rather you wait

 

[DuoRivians]

Thanks for sharing. Great work.

Why did that guy rat you out? Seems like an unnecessary and dick move to do.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Send me one and let's find out! I really want to test it now, I thought I saw pics of different plugs, but now I can't find any on eBay. $537 new.

I do know the EDV cameras are the same, saw a couple on eBay with identical plug and screw pattern.



Charging $250/hr while paying $24-36/hr, they'd rather you wait

FWIW, the Gen2 taillight bar works. Same plug, screws etc. I rolled the dice when I replaced mine.

Can you confirm the part numbers? Your pictures didn't show them.

Based on eBay..which isn't always reliable it looks like PT00465707-D is listed as for R1T/R1S but it has a different mounting and plug point (top center) from what you have pictured:

The fender cameras showed as PT00084935-B, but they too looked different:

I finally found PT00002195 which seems to be the side mirror light camera and seems to match:

For reference, Gen2 R1T Rear Bumper Camera seems to be Part# PT01208256-A

The plug seems to be the same, the mounting screws seem to be the same pattern but they sit in different spots of the housing.

 

[Riviot]

FWIW, the Gen2 taillight bar works. Same plug, screws etc. I rolled the dice when I replaced mine.

Can you confirm the part numbers? Your pictures didn't show them.

Based on eBay..which isn't always reliable it looks like PT00465707-D is listed as for R1T/R1S but it has a different mounting and plug point (top center) from what you have pictured:

The fender cameras showed as PT00084935-B, but they too looked different:

I finally found PT00002195 which seems to be the side mirror light camera and seems to match:

For reference, Gen2 R1T Rear Bumper Camera seems to be Part# PT01208256-A

The plug seems to be the same, the mounting screws seem to be the same pattern but they sit in different spots of the housing.

Gen1 lamp, center, rear: PT00000470-N
Gen2 lamp, center, rear: PT00000470-U
I would say those are basically the same.

Gen1 camera and bracket assembly, bumper, rear: PT00032058-A
Gen1 camera, surround, mirror: PT00002195-D

Gen2 shows all of the front, mirror, and rear cameras as PT00465707-D so you know they are all the same, but also shows different ones for pre-bracketed. Gen1 doesn't do that in the parts portal.

Precisely my finding on that gen2, pretty dang close but not quite. And the lens is different on the R1S bumper than the R1T, it's longer for both gens.

A lot of Gen2 R1S rear cameras, no PT00465707-D cameras available right now though. Hindsight I should've ordered it for the $77 just to test the plug! I'd happily have a friend fabricate a new bracket with a scanner and 3D printer if it actually worked.

Final step I should mention, it'll say cameras and sensors don't work after you unplug and replug then. Just give it a sleep cycle and everything is back to normal.

 

[BlueberryQuadzilla]

Nice work everybody! I hope somebody will buy that last one or find a crash vehicle and give it a go. I’d be happy if they would let us know if the gen 2 camera is compatible with the same or new bracket or if we have to stick with Gen 1 stuff. Probably up to us though.

 

[Rivianero]

Quite an undertaking and wonderful write up!

Heartily agree with comments encouraging Rivian to better enable/support/allow owner right to DIY repair.

My personal experiences with SC is that it is only getting worse. Expect it will really hot a wall if R2 succeeds.

 

[Riviot]

For reference, Gen2 R1T Rear Bumper Camera seems to be Part# PT01208256-A

You've got me back down the rabbit hole. This camera is gen2 "Camera, Wide Angle, Front" on parts portal, goes up top in the rearview mirror assembly.

Even if you get brackets that fit a different screw pattern, will the plug mate?

Gen1:

Gen2:

Screw it, I ordered it.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

You've got me back down the rabbit hole. This camera is gen2 "Camera, Wide Angle, Front" on parts portal, goes up top in the rearview mirror assembly.

Even if you get brackets that fit a different screw pattern, will the plug mate?

Gen1:

Gen2:

Screw it, I ordered it.

Those nubs are just to hold it in, the pin pattern will matter more than anything else. That said generally the nub alignments are due to different pin/wiring patterns so it might not work. The big question though is, would it even be any better in terms of quality?

If the Gen2 cameras are all PT00465707-D, that would indicate that it won't be a simple plug and play. Although a bracket could still be made...or I wonder if we could just carry the entire assembly over and use the bracket as well. Do you have the full part number of the entire rear camera assembly?

 

[DogPound]

I need to replace my 2022 R1T front camera, Its taken a few to many chips from sand and rocks. Wish that was an easier item to replace. since it is set up for failure.

 

[Riviot]

Those nubs are just to hold it in, the pin pattern will matter more than anything else. That said generally the nub alignments are due to different pin/wiring patterns so it might not work. The big question though is, would it even be any better in terms of quality?

If the Gen2 cameras are all PT00465707-D, that would indicate that it won't be a simple plug and play. Although a bracket could still be made...or I wonder if we could just carry the entire assembly over and use the bracket as well. Do you have the full part number of the entire rear camera assembly?

I didn't get a good pic of the plug when I had it off, but looks like this:

There's a specific pattern for the plug, so while pin might connect fine, the plug might not seat well and could allow water intrusion.

Having driven a gen2 loaner, I'm confident quality would improve. What we really don't know is interaction with ECU and if it would even work. Would FPS increase? My guess is no bc wouldn't ECU request lower rate than it's capable?

Gen1 part# and bracket:
PT00032058-A

Gen2 part# and bracket:
PT00601778-D

 

[Yellow Buddy]

I didn't get a good pic of the plug when I had it off, but looks like this:

There's a specific pattern for the plug, so while pin might connect fine, the plug might not seat well and could allow water intrusion.

Having driven a gen2 loaner, I'm confident quality would improve. What we really don't know is interaction with ECU and if it would even work. Would FPS increase? My guess is no bc wouldn't ECU request lower rate than it's capable?

Gen1 part# and bracket:
PT00032058-A

Gen2 part# and bracket:
PT00601778-D

There’s only one way to find out..

On my 2016 Tesla I was able to fully upgrade the car to HW3. Some of it was upgradeable without any additional hardware (rear camera) some of it required configuration (repeaters) some required
harnesses (pillar cams) and to get them all working with HW3 features I needed to upgrade the main computer. But the cameras themselves did make a visual improvement.

In time I will be able to figure out if our Gen1s are upgradeable as well.

Based on the parts diagram, it might work with the entire assembly. The lens looks longer but the bracket is flat vs kinked in the Gen 1. It might’ve been done to streamline parts. It’s hard to fully tell until I get my hands on one.

 

[CrazyOne]

I didn't get a good pic of the plug when I had it off, but looks like this:

There's a specific pattern for the plug, so while pin might connect fine, the plug might not seat well and could allow water intrusion.

Having driven a gen2 loaner, I'm confident quality would improve. What we really don't know is interaction with ECU and if it would even work. Would FPS increase? My guess is no bc wouldn't ECU request lower rate than it's capable?

Gen1 part# and bracket:
PT00032058-A

Gen2 part# and bracket:
PT00601778-D

I would expect it to need drivers for new version at minimum. But if it works, even at lower res, it should be an improvement because of better sensor quality.

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