Hey guys,

I've recently got myself a focus mk4, without camera and without parking sensors. I am interested in installing an OEM camera if I can get the guidelines to work (though, from some researching, I heard that guidelines won't work if car doesn't have parking sensors). 

I've went through the 5 pages of comments and it gets very confusing. I have the Forscan tool, and I was thinking to buy a used, OEM, 2nd hand camera, from a "scrapyard" that has the same car model that has been into a frontal accident.

Most of the above links for cables don't work so I actually don't know what should I order in order to make it work? I have not yet opened the back of the car to see if I already have the harness there, but since the car is not equipped with it, I expect it not to have anything waiting there. 

Anyone can give a straight forward, updated, step-by-step guide I could follow? Perhaps with links that work?

Thank you so much in advance!

6 hours ago, Raul.Cos said:

I expect it not to have anything waiting there. 

Exactly, nothing will be waiting.

You need:

1) OEM Camera

2) OEM Tailgate handle for camera

3) Loom with camera connectors, more expensive ALiExpress ready to use. Search "1005003349810069" (today it works). Cheaper, you can craft it yourself, connector and pins are on the aliexpress too.

4) If you do not have PDC, I recommend to lay some cables, just in case for the future: 2 cables twisted pair  for CAN. 1 for button, 1 for power, 8 for front sensors. PDC module is in the back.

Once you will get ready, you can do mounting as described here. In any case just ask.

On 8/30/2025 at 9:58 AM, piotrmod said:

Sure,

1) If you have taken power for your camera from F3 fuse, probably you did that in a wrong way, the adapter must have both fuses in place. F3 powers PDC, so that is the most probable mistake. Check voltage on F3 fuse and check if F3 fuse is not burned out.

2) Wide angle:  use this calculator to help with AsBuilt: forMOD AsBuilt calculator - Camera Wide View

(it was worked out in my reply on page #3 of this thread)

3) If still get issues, provide AsBuilt of BCM and APIM (you have APIM or ACM?)

 

Thank You, still could not it to work, all the settings seem to be correct. Ive sent you  DM

18 hours ago, piotrmod said:

Exactly, nothing will be waiting.

You need:

1) OEM Camera

2) OEM Tailgate handle for camera

3) Loom with camera connectors, more expensive ALiExpress ready to use. Search "1005003349810069" (today it works). Cheaper, you can craft it yourself, connector and pins are on the aliexpress too.

4) If you do not have PDC, I recommend to lay some cables, just in case for the future: 2 cables twisted pair  for CAN. 1 for button, 1 for power, 8 for front sensors. PDC module is in the back.

Once you will get ready, you can do mounting as described here. In any case just ask.

Do you think it's easier if I just buy this 3rd party camera from amazon? Instead of the OEM one? Or the cabling would be the same? They also sell the video cable  and the adapter? Would these then suffice? 

Also if I put a camera, I will not need PDC so no need to extra cabling for it. 

9 hours ago, Raul.Cos said:

Do you think it's easier if I just buy this 3rd party camera from amazon?

Easier? Certainly would be cheaper. Work is the same, you need to remove the same trims, put cables in the same way. Get into the SYNC connector. 1) I really doubt, this aftermarkets cameras can handle dynamic lines. This requires connecting to CAN or LIN bus, which I don't see in this offer. There is something like addon for this - looks like costs 57euro. This is not clear to me, if you want dynamic lines, you need to buy both? Would be great, if someone can confirm, that dynamic lines works in that case.

* In OEM camera, dynamic lines are precise, I really trust them - white line is where my wheels will be. 

* OEM has zoom feature, not much useful.

* OEM has wide view - that is very handy!  

9 hours ago, Raul.Cos said:

Also if I put a camera, I will not need PDC so no need to extra cabling for it. 

Once you will succeeded with camera, you will get hungry for PDC, laying a few cables costs nothing since you will have all opened. Just honest advice from someone who  had no camera, no PDC and added camera first.

 

On 8/30/2025 at 9:58 AM, piotrmod said:

Sure,

1) If you have taken power for your camera from F3 fuse, probably you did that in a wrong way, the adapter must have both fuses in place. F3 powers PDC, so that is the most probable mistake. Check voltage on F3 fuse and check if F3 fuse is not burned out.

2) Wide angle:  use this calculator to help with AsBuilt: forMOD AsBuilt calculator - Camera Wide View

(it was worked out in my reply on page #3 of this thread)

3) If still get issues, provide AsBuilt of BCM and APIM (you have APIM or ACM?)

 

Thanks for this, i started the car this morning and the wide view started working. Odd, as i had ran the calibration yesterday.

Some great information on this thread.  I've just bought my Focus estate, is there any reason not to go fire this kind of kit? It seems quite plug and play and has the dynamic reversing lines?

https://www.in-car-install.co.uk/shop/reversing-cameras/ford-focus-mk4-sync4-ahd-reversing-reverse-camera-kit-2022-onwards/

14 hours ago, Katrunner said:

is there any reason not to go

IMO: price!

You can get OEM camera for around 100£, plus the handle, maybe 50£ and one cable from AliExpress. Rest is work cost. With this kit, the work will be much more complicated. OEM camera will have even more features: zoom and wide view.

 

 

Fair enough! Although the handle is more like £100 rather than £50 it's still a good saving. Any current links please to the aliexpress cable for a mk4.5 going to a Sync4 - your link from last month has expired.

I've fitted this on my Mk4.5 estate, big thanks to Piotr and Ricky for their guides and instructions. I bought the boot handle and OEM camera on eBay and I used the ready made aliexpress cable at the end of Page 1 (The aliexpress cable needed a different piggy back fuse as it wasn't a micro2). I ran it through the headlining of the car and down through the pillar at the front. The cable is more than long enough even on an estate but it has a ground clip that is quite short so added some cabling and ran it to 33 on the APIM cable. I tried the Piotr method first only taking off the screen, surrounding trim and air con vents and reaching through the glovebox to underdo the APIM cable. This wasn't easy to reach and there's a fair amount of my skin left inside the car now. However when I put it all back together the Sync 4 screen didn't work any more and nothing that goes through the APIM functioned, even driver mode was disabled which was a big worry as thought I'd broken something. I then took off the gearstick trim and sides of the centre console to get to the radio, removed that and then had easier access to the APIM. All looked ok on it and I reseated the cable and this time it all worked fine when putting it back together once Forscan was set up correctly. Zoom and wide angle view works as well. 

This was a really useful video showing how to remove the dashboard trim: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT6InzRk7Fo&t=1227s

Thanks again for the help. Might look at adaptive cruise control next

I did this retrofit well over a year ago, and it has been working fantastically, but here in the dark winter months I have noticed something that bothered me. Whenever you put the car in reverse and the rear camera turns on, it also adjusts the screen to maximum brightness, which is great when its sunny out, but when it is dark, you get COMPLETELY blinded by how bright it gets.

One time I had a trailer attached and was reversing (Camera is useless in this case) but I couldn't even use my mirrors because I was completely blinded by the display.

Is there any way to turn off this automatic brightness adjustment? or perhaps make the camera disabled when a trailer is attached? (it clearly knows when something is connected, as the guide lines are removed when a trailer is detected)