backup camera alignment issues (not backup guides)

[mcgillms]

I wanted to see if anyone else had camera alignment issues and if it would be easier for me to fix it myself or take it in?

I've attached a picture of the camera catching the side of my trunk.

[GQM45s]

i think that's naturally like that, since i have it as well. Never bother to really look into it. But if you go into the advance diagnostics menu (should be a guide in the FAQ & How To) you can adjust it.

[mcgillms]

it started happening yesterday. I went into the diagnostics menu--only found the settings to adjust the guides...

[TDot]

I went through hell trying to get this fixed. I called 11 dealers, sent them picks, and sent them picks of other Ms that didn't have that crap on it. I also brought mine in to fix it under the warranty and they ALL said it was "normal", or "a different model M", or there is simply no fix for it. Basically the camera is actually picking up a piece of the backend where the license plate is. I hate it as well but couldn't get anywhere with getting it resolved. Please let me know if you have any luck.

[mcgillms]

tdot - appreciate the insight.

time to get my hands dirty today

[quinner49er]

It looks like the camera lens is pointed a bit too much down and also to the right, compared to mine. The wide-angle (bird's eye) lens seems to be picking up the top and bottom part of the licence plate. Mine just shows the lip of the bumper and the view is perfectly aligned (square) to the line of the bumper, whereas yours is out of alignment (tilted to the right). My guess is someone was sloppy in mounting it on the assembly line or the lens itself has a fault.

[splix]

I have the same thing on my camera but for 2 years I've never even noticed it until I saw this thread. Its not that big of a deal.

[mcgillms]

If you're looking at the trunk, the camera is catching the left of side the license plate zone (not the actual plate).

It's annoying since it started happening recently and I pay attention to small details :-)

Hopefully when I take it in next month they can quickly fix it.

[Infinity_818]

I've been having like a line in the display while I back up as if a pixel is burned, I don't know if it has something to do with the alignment or its the lighting from the sun. It bothers the hell out of me, any body ever experienced that.

[TDot]

what year and model do you have. if you get it fixed please find out exactly what the did. when are you taking it in?

[mcgillms]

2008 m35x. Nothing scheduled but i will update you next time i have it looked at.

[TDot]

Anything? 5 posts, I hope you're still around.

[mcgillms]

you guys are tough :-)

Haven't had the time to take it in. I do have an oil change coming up in a couple weeks...

[mcgillms]

took my car in today to have them look at the backup camera issue. As i was expecting, they said it was normal--which i totally disagree with.

They also didn't have any solutions or suggestions...

[Larz]

took my car in today to have them look at the backup camera issue. As i was expecting, they said it was normal--which i totally disagree with.

They also didn't have any solutions or suggestions...

The view from my back-up cam looks pretty much identical to yours. I can see just a smidge of the license frame in the corner, but if I look in the center area of the screen, objects in the screen seem to be accurate with what I see if I turn around and have a look for myself.
However, my bumper appears 100% level with the bottom border of the screen and yours does not, or at least with that shadow in the view, it doesn't. As far as the rest of the view, I chalk that up to the fact it's small wide-angle lens.

[Henson50]

Mine just started doing this today! Any tips or help on fixing this issue? My local dealer claims that they can fix it for $125.00, but I'm not sure after reading this.

[TDot]

I'm glad there's at least one person here who can state with me that at one point the camera didn't look like that and then all of a sudden it was there. I thought I was going insane and imagining that it was perfect before, and instead it was always bad like everyone else's.
I say if your local...official authorized...dealer can fix it without jury rigging anything let him do it. If he can't you don't pay. Simple as that. And please come back and share. Better yet take pictures and video him repairing so the rest of us can see. I for one would be willing to make a donation towards the cost after the fact if you can show me a video of how it's fixed if it doesn't require any major modifications.

[svard75]

It appears I too am seeing this dark area. Interesting I never noticed it until I saw the photo you posted. Here is mine along with a close up shot of the camera lens. It kinda looks like I have a scratch on the lens.






It's never impeded the ability for me to back up properly and I doubt the license plate cover is the issue here since it's so much further away.

[TDot]

It's not the license cover. The entire area is a recessed area in the back, what the camera is picking up is the left side/wall of the area. And then the bottom part is the bumper. I believe if they tilt the camera up a little it will clear the side wall and maybe a little bit of the bumper. But they say they can't do it because its fixed in a bracket.

[Minus (-)]

Glad to know I'm not going crazy. This happened to me about 3weeks ago. It appeared during a rainy day. My girl pointed it out. Its not really affecting anything, just very annoying. Tuning in for a fix tho.

[svard75]

Glad to know I'm not going crazy. This happened to me about 3weeks ago. It appeared during a rainy day. My girl pointed it out. Its not really affecting anything, just very annoying. Tuning in for a fix tho.

s*** I think you're onto something here. I too just went through a really rainy day on Saturday. So much that when using the camera I could not see everything. Perhaps it's water entering the lens somehow and it takes a few days to dry out? But then the water would not turn dark and it would be at the bottom... hmmm head scratch-er!

[TDot]

So I finally got sick of looking at the huge triangle on the left and my bumper, so I decided to go about and adjust the view. What's amazing to me is this is supposed to be a fixed object uniform to all the Ms, but they all give a slightly to drastically different view. I wish I had a before view to show, but that triangle on the left used to come from the bottom middle of the screen up to the middle left of the screen. This is what it looks like now.



So here is what I did. Took the camera assembly out and realized it's actually two parts, the camera and the camera mount and easily detached from each other by two screws. So I jammed some spacers on one side of the camera to angle it up more and you have a better view.

 

The only problem as you can see is the camera now picks up piece of the top of the recessed area (top left and right). That's easily solved now that I know how it's put together. I'm going to make the spacer go around the whole thing to extend the camera maybe 5mm, and then put these spacers (better made) on one side to angle it up. No more shadow, edges, bumper. Then go into the diagnostic and readjust the guide lines. I just have to go to home Depot and get longer screws. I know I'm not going to get rid of the entire triangle on the lower left, but I'm hoping to reduce it to the point it looks like the top left currently looks.

So here you go anyone who is annoyed by this.