OH FAKRA!!

[derfman00]

About 2 months ago we bought a used 2022 Tahoe Premier. It had some window chips and the dealer replaced the windshield for us. When we test drove it the salesperson showed us the rear view mirror camera and i had played with it before they replaced the windshield. My wife doesn't use it regularly so when we took it in for the windshield, it was set to regular mirror and being a feature that's new, I didn't think to check it at pick up time.

The other day I flipped the switch on the mirror and I got the exclamation point. I asked my wife about it and she said it did it a few weeks ago but she forgot to tell me...

This coincides with the time that we took it in for the windshield.

Well, me being a handy guy, I hoped it was just a bad connection. Well... it was worse. The wire for the camera at the connection was loose and it pulled out of the pin. It was loose like it got pulled out and they pushed the wire back in.

I highly doubt I'm going to win a fight this far past picking up the vehicle.

I'm pretty sure this is repairable, but no idea where / what i need to do it. What kind of repair shop does fakra connections?

 

[ReaperHWK]

Is that like a coaxial cable? If it is there are tools for that at Home Depot.

 

[Doubeleive]

stick it back in there, sort of, enough that it won't work and enough that's it not obvious and then take it to the dealer (depending on your warranty status) and say this don't work, see how it plays out.
otherwise you can buy a new cable, although it may need to be ran to the other end as well. A tool might work and/or a new end piece but just make sure if you get one it is the same as there are different ones out there depending on the connection type.
if you take it to the dealer, just fail to mention the windshield work.
alternatively complain to the windshield shop

 

[derfman00]

stick it back in there, sort of, enough that it won't work and enough that's it not obvious and then take it to the dealer (depending on your warranty status) and say this don't work, see how it plays out.
otherwise you can buy a new cable, although it may need to be ran to the other end as well. A tool might work and/or a new end piece but just make sure if you get one it is the same as there are different ones out there depending on the connection type.
if you take it to the dealer, just fail to mention the windshield work.
alternatively complain to the windshield shop

Of course it's the mirror side...

 

[derfman00]

Is that like a coaxial cable? If it is there are tools for that at Home Depot.

They are like that but not threaded and smaller.

 

[jfoj]

Those damn connectors are so obscure, they seem to only be used in the Auto industry from what I have seen. I have run into them with GPS and OE cell phone modules. I assume the Onstar modules probably use them.

From looking at your picture, it looks like the windshield monkey shop had no idea there was a camera connection and pulled the windshield and ripped the connector off the wire. It appears the connector should have had a crimp ferrule that was heat shrunk to the actual cable.

I can tell you the dealer will not likely have the tools to repair this connector. A special crimper that has a die for both the center pin and the ferrule is required. Also stripping the coax cable is tricky, usually there is a decent strip tool, they are not often expensive or hard to use, but to get a quality wire prep is not easy.

Video cables and connectors usually have 75 Ohm connectors, cell phone/Onstar type cables and connectors are usually 50 Ohm.

I see places like Digikey have the Fakra connectors for like $3 each, but you need to fully understand do you need 50 or 75 Ohm. The most common Farka connectors are 50 Ohm. The Farka connectors are based on SMB style connectors. You may need to reuse the plastic portion of the connector if it is good shape, because finding the exact plastic part may be an issue. Usually the connector "guts" are the same. The plastic portion is usually color coded and keyed in a specific way.

You might check around for any two way radio shops in your area, they are most likely to be familiar and have the correct parts. There are rarely any cell phone installation shops any more because everyone has hand held phones these days.

Crimpers are probably around $75-$100 if you can find a Fakra specific crimper and the wire prep tool may be difficult to find.

Good luck, this may require a replacement cable and the dash to be torn apart depending on where the video module is located.

Why can't shops slow down a bit and pay attention these days??

 

[Doubeleive]

Those damn connectors are so obscure, they seem to only be used in the Auto industry from what I have seen. I have run into them with GPS and OE cell phone modules. I assume the Onstar modules probably use them.

From looking at your picture, it looks like the windshield monkey shop had no idea there was a camera connection and pulled the windshield and ripped the connector off the wire. It appears the connector should have had a crimp ferrule that was heat shrunk to the actual cable.

I can tell you the dealer will not likely have the tools to repair this connector. A special crimper that has a die for both the center pin and the ferrule is required. Also stripping the coax cable is tricky, usually there is a decent strip tool, they are not often expensive or hard to use, but to get a quality wire prep is not easy.

Video cables and connectors usually have 75 Ohm connectors, cell phone/Onstar type cables and connectors are usually 50 Ohm.

I see places like Digikey have the Fakra connectors for like $3 each, but you need to fully understand do you need 50 or 75 Ohm. The most common Farka connectors are 50 Ohm. The Farka connectors are based on SMB style connectors. You may need to reuse the plastic portion of the connector if it is good shape, because finding the exact plastic part may be an issue. Usually the connector "guts" are the same. The plastic portion is usually color coded and keyed in a specific way.

You might check around for any two way radio shops in your area, they are most likely to be familiar and have the correct parts. There are rarely any cell phone installation shops any more because everyone has hand held phones these days.

Crimpers are probably around $75-$100 if you can find a Fakra specific crimper and the wire prep tool may be difficult to find.

Good luck, this may require a replacement cable and the dash to be torn apart depending on where the video module is located.

Why can't shops slow down a bit and pay attention these days??

ya when I was messing with the HMI in the silverado it has several of those connectors, for radio, gps, onstar, etc. the tips are usually just male or female (like a plug in sma), but the plastic shroud can be all sorts of weird configurations so you can't put in the wrong spot and they won't stay in without the shroud clipping in. I tried grabbing some various ones out of different vehicles at the wrecking yard but none matched, I needed to split the roof mount shark antenna signal and ended up just using a separate gps antenna that had the correct connector.
*dealer fix would be to just replace the whole cable

 

[derfman00]

Those damn connectors are so obscure, they seem to only be used in the Auto industry from what I have seen. I have run into them with GPS and OE cell phone modules. I assume the Onstar modules probably use them.

From looking at your picture, it looks like the windshield monkey shop had no idea there was a camera connection and pulled the windshield and ripped the connector off the wire. It appears the connector should have had a crimp ferrule that was heat shrunk to the actual cable.

I can tell you the dealer will not likely have the tools to repair this connector. A special crimper that has a die for both the center pin and the ferrule is required. Also stripping the coax cable is tricky, usually there is a decent strip tool, they are not often expensive or hard to use, but to get a quality wire prep is not easy.

Video cables and connectors usually have 75 Ohm connectors, cell phone/Onstar type cables and connectors are usually 50 Ohm.

I see places like Digikey have the Fakra connectors for like $3 each, but you need to fully understand do you need 50 or 75 Ohm. The most common Farka connectors are 50 Ohm. The Farka connectors are based on SMB style connectors. You may need to reuse the plastic portion of the connector if it is good shape, because finding the exact plastic part may be an issue. Usually the connector "guts" are the same. The plastic portion is usually color coded and keyed in a specific way.

You might check around for any two way radio shops in your area, they are most likely to be familiar and have the correct parts. There are rarely any cell phone installation shops any more because everyone has hand held phones these days.

Crimpers are probably around $75-$100 if you can find a Fakra specific crimper and the wire prep tool may be difficult to find.

Good luck, this may require a replacement cable and the dash to be torn apart depending on where the video module is located.

Why can't shops slow down a bit and pay attention these days??

The wire came off on the mirror side so replacement wire is probably not possible UNLESS it's a plug inside the mirror too. Not sure i want to try taking that apart but I might...