Backup camera while driving, something I learned today.

I was driving off road today in my stock ‘09 Tacoma TRD Sport and after getting off the trail I realized my backup camera was coming on while I was driving, along with my check engine light and my ABS light. The check engine and ABS lights have come on before after driving through deep water. Some sensor under the truck gets wet, all I need to do to is go to Auto Zone and have them reset my computer.

When the camera was on so was my Reverse indicator, along with whatever gear I was in. Didn’t matter if I wasn’t in D, N, P, didn’t matter. I soon noticed the camera only came on when I pressed the brakes. Which made driving scary because my reverse lights would also come on, such as at a red lights. I soon realized it was the left brake light. Whenever the left brake light came on for any reason the camera and reverse lights came on. The guy at auto zone reset my check engine and ABS lights, but I was still dealing with my reverse issues. We were both dumbfounded, so I decided to drive home and wait for everything to dry out.

As soon as I got home I found my issue. While on the trail I had bottomed out the back bumper, breaking my trailer wiring harness. I knocked the plastic housing clean off the end of the wires, as well as bending the metal that attaches the adapter to the bumper. The wires were touching and sparking, causing my reverse lights to come on. Tomorrow I’ll be buying a new wiring harness and zip tying it to the bumper instead of fixing the expensive looking metal bracket. I’ll post pictures tomorrow of the before and after.

Maybe this was helpful, maybe I wasted 5 minutes of your day. I just thought I would share my experience with you all.

 

Nah, it was only like 3 minutes...

I sugest getting a code reader, that way, if you drive hru deep water and you get 5he check engine light again, you may be able to narrow down what is getting wet, and take step to waterproof the connection or sensor or whatever.