For the second time, my ES failed to shift after riding in muddy conditions. This problem is an intermittant one, since I'm in and out of the water often.

The first time the ES quit shifting, I was cutting donuts in a thick mudhole. This time I was riding muddy mountain trails and decending Trail 9 over Slickrock on the Tellico ORV area; a rather inconvenient place to have to deal with a failed shift sensor or contact.

So, this is the second time I've had to ride out using the manual shift lever.

After sitting in camp for an hour or so, the shift worked again.I guess what ever had gotten wet and shorted out, finally dried. This is identical to the first failure, which, when dry worked normal again.

I'm suspecting the problem is a moisture problem, not an overheating one.

Has anyone's ES failed to shift due to moisture?
Or perhaps a defective heat sink? If so, did you find the spot to waterproof properly or find another remedy?

Despite being inconvenienced twice with this problem, I still think the ES to be the better choice over the manual one.

At least I can expect the shifter to correct itself given an hour or so recovery time. Hmmmmm .. maybe I better check in with the dealer.

 

Hi,
My name is John and I have a 2001 Honda Rancher ES.I have had the same problem 3 times and the son of a bitch would not shift,I had to ride home in 2 gear.I am taking mine to the shop today.Take yours to the shop and they will fix it for free.
Once I put Plastic Wrap over the bottons and that worked well
2001 Honda Rancher ES TRX350TE
1450 miles in 2 months

RIDE ON

HONDA-BEST ON EARTH

 

I had 450es. Worked great first couple months then died. Almost every ride it would do as yours does. This would happen even if I hadn't been in wate--- Honda needs to really look into this problem! MB