I work from home so my car still has low miles on it. Took my dog to the vet today and I noticed my front camera looked like a bug was on it. Nope. A rock hit it right on of all places.
I've been reading dealers want insane prices like $1700 to replace them. Looks like a $600 part if I'm looking right. Less if used. Looks to be easy to replace. Anyone ever have to replace one and done it themselves?

 

Yikes I'm so sorry to see this. Let me know if you're able to find a more reasonable solution.

By the way, once you've replaced it, do you think there is an aftermarket clear lens shield? A lot of dash cams sell (or include) a circular polarized filter that really increases camera quality by reducing glare - and at 10-20 dollars a pop, I'm sure they'd be glad to take the hit (or lessen it) for your 1700 dollar oem camera.

 

Funny you mention a lens shield. I never even thought of getting one, but will absolutely look into one now. lol

 

There's a camera calibration procedure involved when replacing the front camera of the panoramic view monitor system. The calibration function is self contained in the multimedia infotainment system and is found under the "Service" subsystem. I haven't tried any of the camera calibration procedures myself. In looking over the setup and calibration operations in the lexusguide.net Lexus ES (XZ10) Service Manual, the setup looks to be somewhat tedious and time consuming.

While I can't readily see any differences between the hybrid and gasoline calibration procedures, for the calibration procedures for hybrids see Panoramic View Monitor System (for Hv Model) - Calibration and for gasoline models see Panoramic View Monitor System (for Gasoline Model) - Calibration. On those pages, there's quite a bit of circumstances/conditions scenario tailoring of the calibration procedures (e.g., single front, rear, left hand, or right hand camera calibration scenarios) so one needs to closely read over the material on those web pages to avoid incomplete or unnecessary work. (In the Part Name list see the "Front television camera assembly" entry for the three applicable procedures involved with front camera calibration.)

The removal and installation of the front camera looks to be pretty easy and straight forward. For that see Television Camera (for Front) (scroll down a bit to see the installation and removal instructions).

 

Thanks for that. I had a feeling some kind of calibration was going to have to be done vs just swapping it out.
Might be better for me to just go through the dealer.
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You might check with your insurance company - I once had a fairly expensive glass fog light hit by a rock and my comprehensive no-deductible insurance covered the replacement cost.

Dave Mac

 

I'm definitely not going through insurance here. Rates have sky rocketed being a no fault state and if I use it with a $500 deductible they'll just bump me up more in 6 months regardless of why. I'd rather just pay for it. If it was my windshield different story.

 

You might be able to find one using this junkyard locator service, I've buought a number of things through the service https://www.car-part.com you'd have to pick Grille as what you are looking for because camera won't be listed.

 

Damn, I'm sorry.

I'd get few quotes from few dealers (even they are farrrrr away) just to see what's the ball park number is and figure out if you want to do that.

$1700 for that piece of camera is absurd, really lol, it probably cost them maybe $50 for that piece (may be $10 ), ~30 mins to take out and replace the part (just the front grill), ~30 mins to do calibration, so ~1 hour labor, $125/h for Lexus maybe, total ~$170, they can mark up 300% make it $500 and we are ok with it, but not 1,000% mark up to $1,700 LOL

Or you can buy the OEM part online, put it on yourself and save $, IF you can't do calibration and need Dealer, it should not be more than 1-2 hours of labor, no way it takes more than 30 mins to perform the calibration, they just follow steps in the book...

By the way, a lot of RX owners had this happened to them too, check the RX sections, if it makes you feel any better

 

Thanks for the tips and information.

Does anyone know if the camera is swapped out what happens before the calibration? Does it still work, but features like the 360 not work? Would it give an error message and not work at all?
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This camera is exclusive to the ES models, no other Toyota product uses it, that is the reaaon why is so expensive.
Get it used from a junk yard.

 

That's crazy, I thought the Avalon or Rav4 or Highlander that have front camera would share the same part...

GreenGobln, what year and trim of your ES?

I found these, ~$300 not bad:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/325753815468
https://www.ebay.com/itm/134788278184

 

Replacement glass for a phone camera is only a few bucks. If you can't find just the lens for this, measure the diameter in mm with a micrometer and do a search for generic replacements. Shouldn't be hard to cut the old one off and glue a new one on. If you can't find a good match with adhesive already applied use a very small amount of glazing sealant like Dowsil 1199 to apply and seal it, or even a hardware store silicone.

 

I see used cameras for 2019-2022 ES on ebay for $274.99 with a 14 day return window. Part number is 867B0-06070 and it is listed as Used in great working condition.

 

I had no idea that a front park assist camera even existed. So cool. How does it engage - do you have to press a button or does it just detect nearby objects as you slowly approach?