Recently started having shift issues with my 2006 Honda Rancher 350 es 4x4. It would shift fine for about an hour and then starting blinking a “3” code. If you let it cool down for a while it would shift again. Replaced angle sensor, shift motor and battery. Still doing the same thing. Took it to local Honda dealer 3 times and they say it shifts fine and that it’s fixed. Took it out and run it and it does same thing. Shifts for about an hour and then blinks “3” code again. Any ideas what to try next?

 

If I remember rightly, code 3 happens when the motor has had the power to change gear fed to it, but the angle sensor hasn't detected the lever inside the box having moved far enough to change in a certain time. I assume the angle sensor's signal normally cuts the power, but the ECU has stepped in to say, the motor has had long enough to change gear, there must be a fault. So, either a wire is broken and not sending the angle sensor's message, or low power is getting to the motor, or something inside the gearbox is binding, and the motor can't turn the shaft fast enough to change gear in the time allowed. Check if you can change with the emergency lever when the fault is on.

 

yes you can shift it with emergency lever.

 

It seems to do it when the engine heats up.

 

"It seems to do it when the engine heats up."

That is why I asked if you could change with the emergency shifter. Anyway, I would be thinking about a conversion to manual shift if I had a bike with this problem. If a new motor and angle sensor hasn't fixed it, a careful check of the wires to them is next. Also check the voltage at the battery with the bike running and the fault on, over 15v and the regulator is faulty, this voltage could upset the ECU. If you can't find anything wrong, it could be the ECU, and they cost a lot, so we usually get the owner to opt for a manual shift lever. You take the gears out of the ES reduction box to reduce drag and fit a special lever onto the hex shaft. Dash gearchange display will blink all the time as the ECU thinks there is a fault but, other than that, it is just like any manual 350.

 

Is there a foot lever available? I was going to make one myself but if I can save myself some work I’ll do it.

 

My 2000 Rancher also would sometimes fail to shift when hot. Here is what I did:
1. Add a manual switch to turn on the fan, and leave it on for hot days
2. Change the oil to 20w50 - the transmission gear jams will decrease
3. Put fresh grease on reduction gears under shift motor plate
4. Bypass the ECU so you can activate shift motor at will

Watch the youtube video by Bubba Baryl:

Honda Rancher Shift Problems - How it works - How to fix ALL PROBLEMS!!!

 

"Is there a foot lever available?"

Not here in the UK, but I have seen posts on here about them being available in the US. We used to use a 12mm socket welded onto an old pedal but found it got sloppy after a while, so got a hexagon shape water jet cut in some steel blocks and used the same pinch bolt arrangement as the standard lever, then welded that onto an old pedal.

Regarding manually switching the ES motor instead, I wouldn't, the motor can, and does, break the selector mechanism inside the clutch housing, when controlled by the ECU, and would put a lot of strain on this mechanism if you control the length of time the motor is switched on, with your finger.

 

The main reason there are many more failures of the gear shift linkage in ES models, is because Honda sold about 10 times more ES models than Foot Shift models. So the number of failures of ES models should be 10 times higher than Foot Shift models.
The other reason is because when a transmission gear jam occurs, which happens a lot in older atvs, the ECU does not stop applying voltage to the shift motor. It waits for the angle sensor signal, which never comes when the gears jam. Also there is no tactile feedback of shift resistance. The fact is that a person can easily apply more force on the shift mechanism with his foot than the shift motor can apply.

So adding a short timer to an ECU Bypass System will actually be an improvement to the original design.

 

As I explained in my first post, the angle sensor seems to be the detector that signals the ECU to shut the motor off, it would seem that there is already a timer on it, as the motor shuts off and a fault code appears if the angle sensor doesn't signal a change in a certain time. I have found that I am getting a lot fewer cracked/broken shift pawls and levers as these bikes age, and have always had almost exclusively ES bikes do this. I did one a couple of months ago, and remarked to the boss that it is a long time since I did that job, which was a regular thing about 10 years ago. Almost all the 350s we sold are still being used, though possibly on lighter duties, as the first owners tend to "live on them" whilst second and third owners are often small farmers that use them less.