Hello to all of the ATV fourms.
I'm new here, and have taken some time to go through some of the Honda postings and am quite suprised to see how many people are having problems with thier electric shift. A lot of problems seem to be the angle sensor, or get blamed on it anyways.
I recently had problems with mine too. I have an '04 TRX350 FE
My problem turned out to be a loose connection in the big connector on the ECU. Somehow, the pins on the ECU werent making contact with the connectors in the harness. This connection had never been taken apart before, and when I did, it was clean as a whistle. I simply bent...ever so slightly...the pins for the angle sensor wires, and voila!! Problem solved.
This was after testing all the wiring (which was all good) testing the angle sensor (which was good) persuaded to buy and try a new angle sensor by a Dealer, which I did (grrrrrrr, wasted $120)
I also bent the pins on the angle sensor ever so slightly too, just to make sure they were making good contact inside that connection too. And of course, di-electric grease on all the connections!!

Now i'm no mechnaic, but i like to fix my own stuff, paying $80/hr for labour to fix a quad seems like highway robbery to me!!! So i'll share some ideas, if anyone is having these problems with thier Electric Shift, simple things to check, before being raped by a dealer.

(the wire colours are from my '04 TRX 350FE...not sure if they are the same as others...if they are or arent, maybe someone could post what they are!!) DO NOT TURN ON THE KEY WITH ANY CONNECTIONS OFF THE ECU
Angle sensor has 3 wires.....black/red, yellow/blue, blue green. These wires go dirctly to the big connector on the ECU. Check for continuity with a multi-meter. This will determine if the wires are broken/shorting out. Check all three wires. Be aware though, on the ECU connector, there are 2 black/red wires!!!!!!!! The correct one for me was on the end of the connector (the other was 5 wires in i believe) If all the wires are good, test the sensor. Put your test leads on the black/red and blue/green wire at the ECU end. (with meter set on 20kohms or similar) You should get 4-6k ohms. If not, here's another test for the angle sensor. Put your leads on the blue/green and yellow/blue wire on the ECU connector. Shift the tranny by hand with your emerg. lever. You should have 0-5 ohms. If you still want to make sure, remove the angle sensor(no oil will spill out) put your leads on the posts inside the connection of the sensor that the yellow/blue blue/green wires would connect to. rotate the sensor with your finger. The resistance value should change up and down as you turn it back and forth. If not, the sensor is bad. ( I personally dont see how this could wear out, unless your bike has 10,000miles on it, or you shift it way more than normal)
If your wire colours are different, unplug the connection from the angle sensor, and look at the colour of them!! It is that simple. BE careful with the locking tabs i managed to break one of mine
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Also Code 3,8, 9 are all angle sensor system problems.
I hope this helps, and is easy to understand. Feel free to add any more findings, or correct what i've said.I'm sure i've made a mistake or overlooked something.
These computer run wheelers dont have to be complicated and dont require a $80/hr grease monkey to fix.
BTW, i have the Honda manual for my bike. If i followed the steps, i would have replaced the ECU as well as the angle sensor!!! I ruled out the ECU by trying it on a friends machine, which had the same one in it ( a year older)
Good Luck.
Thunder Chicken.

 

Thanks for the info, I am playing hell with my 05 Rancher AT right now, It is in little pieces all over my garage. I may hit you back up for my info if i need too.

Thanks

Brian
05 Rancher AT x2
(Stone Stock)

 

No prob RancherATCrazy, send me a PM.

Also to my above post, i hope i dident **** anybody off! I re-read it, and see that it may offend a real mechanic! I dont mean to offend anyone, or talk down to anyone!!! (I just hate how some of these dealerships out there just want $$$$)
And thank-you to quicksilver for your help with my shift problem. There are some very knowledgeable people on the board here and they should be reconized.

And, if you are having a problem, i'd make a call to the place you bought your machine from (or where it came from) and see if the problem would be covered under warrenty!!! I had a friend that had his '02 fixed last fall under warrenty, long after it had expired. So i guess all dealerships arent bad... =)

Thunder Chicken.

 

ThunderChicken, Hey if you haven't already, check the post I made a few days ago titled "05 Rancher AT Flashes ESP on Display" I think I have a break in a wire between the angle sensor and the ECU, but I am still not sure. I have been chasing the problem for a while now. If you have any ideas let me know.

Thanks
Brian

 

On the episode named "The Dealership" when David Puddy got promoted from tech to sales, what did he say to Jerry Seinfeld when Jerry called him a grease monkey? Something like "we don't care for that term. I don't think a monkey could do our job." I'll have to see the episode again to remember exaclty what he said.

So, to quote David Puddy, we don't care for that term!!

 

been there done that. and then the honda shop replaced my angle sensor when i told them that it tested bad ( they didn't believe me, said they never saw one go bad). this was 4 years ago. they did this work under warrenty and for got to put the oring seal back in with the angle sensor. boy was i pissed when i took it apart. now i have to do all my own work. later - dana

 

hello, thunderchicken, you're welcome for the help i provided you. I dont work on ATV's, but i'm a Ford technician at the local dealer, i have a college degree in automotive. Electrical wiring in a car is the same in an ATV. A control module is wired to a bunch of inputs and controls outputs based on the info it recieves. if it sees that some signal is missing, something wont work and you get a trouble code most of the time, I have no experience working on an ATV yet, but electrical wiring problems in cars is what i'm good at, and like i stated, it's basically the same thing as an ATV. That's how i was able to help you so well before you threw too many parts at it.

I also do not like the term "grease monkey", but i agree that there are some dealers out there that are not worth snot and hire yahoo's off the street to work on their products. I know it's hard to not get pissed off at high labor rates, but only a small part of that actually goes to the technician, the rest goes into supplies and shop upkeep and cost of business.

You just have to find a dealer that treats you well, is honest and maybe throws a little something into the repair just to be nice. Usually it's the dealer you bought the machine from (if that's where you got it) or sometimes it's not.

any other forum users with similar problems, feel free to PM me.

 

hello all, ya, like I said above, I dident mean to offend anyone...i know I did though! Guess I was on a bit of a rant, mad at the 'locals ' here who dident want to help a bit, cept to sell me parts I dident need......
I know the poor guy out back only gets a small fraction of what they collect 'up front'!! But i guess with the high costs of everything now a days (espically insurance)

Sorry for using the term 'grease monkey'. I know there are lots of good mechnaics out there, and thanks to them who post on here to help weekend warriors like myself!!!