Hey guys

You might remember a month or so ago I had the recall update for the shifter plate on my 2000 Rancher 350 2x4, well the bike has worked flawless up untill today! I was out in a trail and got stuck in some mud, shifted the bike from first to reverse a few times, the next time I went to shift to reverse....nothing! The ES would go through all gears but not into reverse. I finally got the bike home and I pulled out the maual shifter and I could manualy shift the bike in reverse but then I could not ES out of reverse...I would have to maualy shift back into neautral, shut the bike off, then turn the bike back on to ES again! Is there some sort of safety that is keeping the ES from shifting it into reverse? Man, what gives now...I'm so frustrated right now....Arrrrrgggghhhhhhhhhh lol

 

Check to see if you have a blown fuse.

 

Take a peek at the lower rear part of the engine. There is what looks like a "mini spark plug boot" which connects to your reverse switch. This "mini spark plug boot" has a habit of coming off the reverse switch and the result is exactly what you describe. Have a look...

 

Thanks guys, I'll yake a look at those in the morning. The fuses are behind the battery right?

 

the es system works great until you get mud under a shift button. they stick and wont shift . try cleaning the shift buttons. great system but they need replaceable rubber boots over the shift buttons.

 

Problem fixed! The wire on the bottom side of the rear of the motor got severed. I removed the rubber boot, reclamped and added a little solder to strenghten the connection and reinstalled...all is good now.

 

AWWW MAN,...our Honda 350 FE was doing the exact same thing...except we took it to the dealer about 2 weeks ago but that was christmas and they were closed a few days and still havn't heard from them. I called them one day that I was going to be in town and they said that they were waiting on a part to come in. They were waiting on the ECU to come. Would they not check the reverse switch before they would of ordered a new ECU? I wish i would of read this before we too it in! and now we are probibly going to get a nasty bill from them

I looked at the "mini spark plug thing" before we took it in and it looked to be fine and intacked....i did a reverse cable adjustment...and still nothing.... or could it be the ECU maybe....a while ago the ES just stopped working while I was driving... like i could not shift at all I stoped and turned it off and then back on again and then i was able to shift back into neutral and was on my way, it had done it a cupple of times on me. If this sensor is not functioning right could it cause the rest of the systems to malfunction too?
Hope some one can help, Thanks Steve

 

Sorry to hear that man. Hopefully your dealer is competent enough to check and diagnose the exact problem before ordering you a new ECU. But to me, the problem you described about your reverse is the exact same problem I had! I just poped the bike straight up on it's back rack, looked at the bottom of the bike and I saw the wire where it had been pulled out. It was a pretty simple fix in the end.

If you want to be sure, just ask your dealer if they checked this. Also make sure you get your old ECU back so you can try it and be sure.