Rear parking sensor issue, RLC bumper (1 Viewer)

[KLF]

Hoping someone has come across this and has a solution.

I bought a very slightly used RLC rear bumper that was originally fitted to an '09 200-series, had it shipped to Main Line Overland up here in NH. I am not comfortable mounting the thing by myself, and I wanted them to deal with cutting the plastic and swapping over the sensors. They called me today, apparently the holes already in the bumper are slightly too large for the sensors in my '15, and the harness is too short in a couple of places to reach.

Did some research and yup it turns out the sensors and grommets/rings changed in '13. Great. They also slightly changed the location, you can see the difference in this photo that I took in March with my '11 (left) sitting next to the '15 (right) that I was trading in for, at the dealership:

Not sure if you can see it, but the newer sensors are just a tiny bit smaller, and moved out a little in the newer truck.

Part numbers for the retainers, sensors, and harnesses are different between years. I'm just gonna pick up the truck and deal with it myself.

The retainer rings are cheap (~$3.50 each), but the sensors are not ($160 each). I'm worried that the older sensors are not compatible with the newer electronics anyway. I guess the thing to do would be to just buy some of the older style retainers, and epoxy the existing sensors to them. I'm not worried about extending the harness, this should be easy. I don't know the hole size difference, I'll have that tomorrow when i call them back.

Interesting, all 6 sensors are the same part number in the '13-15 era, but the earlier systems have 3 different sensors, 2 each.

 

[grinchy]

Yeah. That’s a bummer. I have the 2009. On length it should fit. I wired mine up off the car and it definitely looked like it was inches short, but once plugged in there was some play. The tightest place was at the car side connector behind the bumper. There was stretch for the corners, but had to connect the sensor first then put in bumper.

I did cut mine in a couple places (solo install pinching). The us driver side sensor only uses a couple conductors so it is easy to extend that wire for length if necessary.

I also have an over sensitive sensor and ordered an aftermarket replacement. $12 from Amazon. It was for the 2013+ and about 1/8 small all the way around. There were also different orientation notches on the plug, so it wasn’t a drop in without dremeling those out. Same plug shape and I’d bet Same pinout, but it was modded so it isn’t plug and play in the different year set.

I returned it. To make it fit is just a few wraps of vinyl tape in the larger sensor retainer.

In the end I have it switched off on the console anyhow once I got the backup camera fixed didn’t need them anymore.

That’s a long winded way of saying buy some rubber plugs and call it a day.

 

[KLF]

Thanks for the reply. So are you saying the newer style sensor didn't directly plug into the older harness? Did you ever get it plugged in, and if so, did it work without errors?

I'm not comfortable disabling and doing away with the sensors, if that's what you mean.

 

[gentimmy]

Guess you have to sell it...to me. For $5

In all seriousness, that sucks man. I highly doubt this is the end of the world though. Is it possible to fashion a plastic collar for the hole itself and plastic washers behind the sensor so that it rests on the bumper?

 

[KLF]

Well I haven't actually seen it yet, I'm picking it up on Friday morning. I'm gonna try to order the older style grommets and see what I can come up with. Will post photos.

 

[grinchy]

Thanks for the reply. So are you saying the newer style sensor didn't directly plug into the older harness? Did you ever get it plugged in, and if so, did it work without errors?

I'm not comfortable disabling and doing away with the sensors, if that's what you mean.

The plug is the same new version to old, but there are some plastic keys that are orientation swapped that need to be removed. Elementary to do.
The newer model sensors and retainers are smaller as you discovered. Buying older model retainers and shimming in will work fine, you already have a harness and sensors that match. I had to trim the retainers a lot to get them in the bumper anyhow.

Yes I was suggesting disabling as the path of least resistance. I suppose some day I’ll get around to trying to fix my oversensitive sensor, but with a good backup camera I don’t use the ultrasonics anyhow. Your use may vary.

 

[DPA200]

Did anybody figure out how to paint match the sensors to a black bumper. My 08 is gold, but my bumper is black. Do they still work if you spray paint over them?

 

[KLF]

I bought new grommets in black (the part that goes around the actual sensor). Then I very gently sanded the face of the sensor just to scuff the old paint a little and squirted a very thin coat of satin black Rust-Oleum on them. Worked fine, no issues.

 

[DPA200]

I bought new grommets in black (the part that goes around the actual sensor). Then I very gently sanded the face of the sensor just to scuff the old paint a little and squirted a very thin coat of satin black Rust-Oleum on them. Worked fine, no issues.

Awesome to hear. I feel like I’ve seen several threads that mentioned this, but none that confirmed it works. Good idea on the black grommets, those are the cheap part.

 

[grinchy]

This guy did.

 

[linuxgod]

Hoping someone has come across this and has a solution.

I bought a very slightly used RLC rear bumper that was originally fitted to an '09 200-series, had it shipped to Main Line Overland up here in NH. I am not comfortable mounting the thing by myself, and I wanted them to deal with cutting the plastic and swapping over the sensors. They called me today, apparently the holes already in the bumper are slightly too large for the sensors in my '15, and the harness is too short in a couple of places to reach.

Did some research and yup it turns out the sensors and grommets/rings changed in '13. Great. They also slightly changed the location, you can see the difference in this photo that I took in March with my '11 (left) sitting next to the '15 (right) that I was trading in for, at the dealership:

View attachment 1821891

Not sure if you can see it, but the newer sensors are just a tiny bit smaller, and moved out a little in the newer truck.

Part numbers for the retainers, sensors, and harnesses are different between years. I'm just gonna pick up the truck and deal with it myself.

The retainer rings are cheap (~$3.50 each), but the sensors are not ($160 each). I'm worried that the older sensors are not compatible with the newer electronics anyway. I guess the thing to do would be to just buy some of the older style retainers, and epoxy the existing sensors to them. I'm not worried about extending the harness, this should be easy. I don't know the hole size difference, I'll have that tomorrow when i call them back.

Interesting, all 6 sensors are the same part number in the '13-15 era, but the earlier systems have 3 different sensors, 2 each.

I have the same issue. Did you just order sensor grommets for an '08? Did the old sensors just snap in? Wondering if you happen to know the part #s as well (but no big deal on those I'm sure I can find them with some searching).

 

[tbisaacs]

I have the same issue. Did you just order sensor grommets for an '08? Did the old sensors just snap in? Wondering if you happen to know the part #s as well (but no big deal on those I'm sure I can find them with some searching).

Not an RLC owner but I had same problem with my dissent. I found that buying new clips and grommets to be easiest. I had to file down quite a bit of the grommet but have a good snug pressure fit.

 

[linuxgod]

Not an RLC owner but I had same problem with my dissent. I found that buying new clips and grommets to be easiest. I had to file down quite a bit of the grommet but have a good snug pressure fit.

Any particular year or part you used? My 2013 grommets/retainer rings will fall through the holes in the bumper, so they are definitely too small

 

[tbisaacs]

Ah you have the opposite problem I had. I used 2008 because my truck is an 08 - I do believe the 08 sensors (at least on LX) are bigger than following years because the laser cut holes in my bumper were significantly smaller. Not sure my suggestion is relevant then, my bad.

Any particular year or part you used? My 2013 grommets/retainer rings will fall through the holes in the bumper, so they are definitely too small

 

[linuxgod]

Ah you have the opposite problem I had. I used 2008 because my truck is an 08 - I do believe the 08 sensors (at least on LX) are bigger than following years because the laser cut holes in my bumper were significantly smaller. Not sure my suggestion is relevant then, my bad.

Too bad, I would've gladly offered to swap mine for yours