Foggy rear view mirror camera

My 2012 TRD Sport rear view mirror camera has become foggy.
In the recent past (winter), when this happened it would eventually clear up.
But now it’s not. I have cleaned the lens, put a blow dryer on high heat, but still cloudy as hell.
Anyone have a quick and easy (or hard and complicated) solution?

 

The lens itself may have become clouded due to the environment elements. Scrubbing when cleaning etc...

You may need to replace the camera assembly.

 

Ah crap! Thought maybe moisture might of got in, some kind of trick to get it out.

 

I know this was a year ago, but hoping someone can find some use from this.

My rearview camera was getting foggy, and I have an electronics background so figured I'd take a look at the camera.

You will need:
a clean area
a small (like #0) philips head screwdriver
cotton swab
lint free cloth
low pressure air if you have it

Once you take it off the tailgate, you can see two screws holding the electrical connector to the camera.


Using a small screwdriver you can remove these and you push the connector assembly forward.

The connector is just press-fit into the camera assembly. Use a screwdriver or spludger and seperate them.


Now take a look at the way they are put together. If you need to, use a marker and put a line across the components to index.

If you look closely there is a raised section of the metal plate in one corner. This is over the group of capacitors. This raised section is on the "top" of the camera just like the ridges of the connector.

Remove the two screws and the metal cover comes off the circuit board.



The brown rectangles are the capacitors I had mentioned.

Be careful and find a clean spot to do the rest of the disassembly.

On the other side of the board is the sensor for the digital camera. DON'T TOUCH THIS!



You now see the lens assembly. If you need to, you can remove the screws and pop the assembly out by pushing from the front. Use a lint free cloth and clean the front lens. My camera showed some dust in the back part of the lens. I used a cotton swab and low pressure air to clean this. The reassembly is the opposite of disassembly.



When I cleaned this up and put it back together, my camera was crystal clear. Then again, we have had two days of dry weather. We'll see what happens the next time we get some weather.

If it fogs again, I think I'll spring for the $30 for an Amazon replacement just for the lens. Now that I know what I'm looking at, I might be able to replace the lens with the knock-off and be back to good.

 

Good to know. Bought a knockoff from somewhere for cheap, works great.
Still Have the original, so I’ll try that someday after i catch up with my list.