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Picked up a 2013 hatch without backup camera to replace my 2011 damaged hatch (which has a camera)
There are some evident differences in the wiring harness (2011 is tagged with the number 80, 2013 is tagged 70)
Should I be able to expect to plug the new harness into the connectors on the car and have everything work normally?
Any hints on tapping the camera into the new wiring harness?
The camera has 4 wires.
I can see one wire (green with silver dot) in the new harness, which terminates at this connector
2013 models underwent what the industry calls a mild refresh. They updated some of the safety, infotainment, made slight appearance changes and some other systems were updated. The wiring harness for the lights may be different. It appears the rear hatch wiring is different and possibly not compatible, or it will take some work to figure it out.
You should have bought a 2010-2012 rear hatch with a camera..
Insanely difficult if not impossible. To even ask shows you know little about vehicle wiring harnesses or construction.
The labor would involve completely taking apart the entire vehicle interior including the dashboard. We are talking weeks or months if you know what you are doing. The other harness would not be compatible with the rest of your vehicle, such as the dash, infotainment, lights, engine etc so you are really opening the proverbial can of worms.
YOU DO NOT WANT TO GO THIS ROUTE when the simple cheaper fix is to buy the correct hatch.
Or just try attaching the new hatch, plugging in what wires fit and hope it works. Depending on what happens, you can fiddle around with the connections to try and make the various lights work. There really is not much back there, the lights, brake lights, hatch motor, hatch release.
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I have been looking for some time for a replacement, and this is the only one to turn up in my area.
To be clear, I was considering merely pulling the wiring from the old hatch and installing it in the new hatch.
What pitfalls do you see in this idea?
Pitfalls? One big one would be the wiring harnesses not even coming close to matching up due to different feature specs in the different model years. As previously advised, you would be much better off by sourcing the correct hatch and not trying to do a Rube Goldberg rewiring job.
Or test things to learn what may work, first identify which wires-wire connections to your old hatch go to which lights and functions. Label these wires. Keep notes.
Then with a 12 volt source, maybe connect some wires to your battery, you can test and figure out which wires/wire connectors on the new hatch operate which lights and features, then label those wires.
Make a chart or spreadsheet listing the functions-lights and colors-connectors for each hatch as a guide to determine if it may be compatible, and if so, how you could make it work.
I think the tail light lenses are different on the 2013. You probably want to move your old tail light lenses over if not broken. Otherwise they will look strange. You can easily find used lenses on eBay.
You will then have a project to keep you very busy this weekend.
Let us know how it turns out!
Last edited by Clutchless; Nov 2, 2024 at 01:42 PM.
My theory is that by removing almost all the wiring from the 2013 hatch (excluding the defroster, which looks tricky), and installing the 2011 wiring, the 2013 becomes a 2011 (electrically). This assumes the defroster, wiper motor and lock actuator specs are close enough. I have yet to ensure the connector plugs are all compatible, but they look similar at first glance. Thoughts?
So same hatch with same options but the exact differences in the hatch with nav and without don't know. Could be so minor it doesn't matter or you'll be drilling holes or something else only one way to find out.
Do you know if here is a way to check if the part numbers for the electric components are the same for the two years?
Eg. Wiper motor, window w/defroster, lock actuator
They are probably the same or close enough that they will work and may plug in the same way. Those are not parts that Lexus would bother changing during a mild refresh. I think the taillight design was all that changed back there. Just keep notes and photos while you swap your old harness into the new one. You may have to also swap some harness connectors. I bet most are very similar or unchanged. You probably will just be left with the unused rear camera, but if creative, you may be able to swap that over too since you are moving the wiring harness. I bet you just drill a small hole etc.
Moved the wiring harness from the 2011 to the 2013 and swapped the hatches. The electric latch and power lift are not working. There is a double beep when the lift button is pushed. Any ideas what this is about?
Last edited by jharasym; Nov 18, 2024 at 07:20 AM.
New hatch electrical
