I hope someone can figure this one out. I have a 2002 honda foreman 450es chassis. The motor had some serious issues to put it lightly and I ended up aquiring a motor out of a 1998 foreman 450 s. The replacement motor fit into the chassis and everthing bolted up. The problem occured when I went to hook up the wiring. The sigle wire for the temp sensor lined up as well a round plug that hooks up to the computer. There is a plug that I believe that runs the gear indicator on the chassis that has about 6 wires on it and off of the motor there is only 3 wires running out from behind the shifter.

I realize that im putting a non electric shift motor in a electric shift chassis, and there is likley going to be a few wires left. I was able to start the motor by using the ground from the battery to the neutral wire bybass used to elininate start in gear safety. I would like to see if anyone knows how to make the gear indicator work and the neutral and reverse lights work correctly as finishing this will make to swap flawless minus the loss of the es.

Also using wiring diagrams I hooked the 3 wires on the frame to the angle sensor which was off my old motor and this dosent seem to be a problem though Im sure the angle its mounted on the chassis may pose a problem later. So basically the other issues is in what position do I mount the angle sensor or does it even matter?


If anyone can help It would be much appreciated

 

For neutral & reverse you will have to connect the (light green/ red = neutral) and the (gray = reverse) wires from the engine to the wires on the wire harness ..

 

As far as I can figure using wiring diagrams and the motor and chassis wiring there are like 7 wires on the harness on the chassis and only 3 coming out of what I believe to be the gear positin sensor on the motor. The wiring diagrams indicate that the 1998 shift sensor has 3 wires and the 2002 has like 7. I currently think they changed the sensor type between 1998 and 2002. There is an electronic thing just above the foot shifter on the 1998 and none on the 02. Keep in mind as well the 2002 was es and the 1998 was foot shift.

Ill try looking for a grey wire off the motor tonight, but I still dont know where or how the rest of the gears are indicated.

Any Ideas?

 

An update for anyone following this repair.

The electronic thing above the shifter is the speedo and which must have been changed on the 2002 chassis to one mounted elsewhere in the rear end as the speedo works and the original motor on the 2002 dosent have the sensor on the engine. there are two wires on the 1998 one green w. red stripe and a grey one exiting the engine. (as honda mechanic said in previous post). I have on the chassis 7 wires which are r n 12345 on the display as a ground is applied to each. where im at now is how do I make the gear shift indicator work correcly with 7 wires on the chassis and only 2 exiting the motor. Im pretty sure the gear shift indicator system has changed from 1998 to 02 from one which counts steps with 2 wires to one whihc for the ES has a sensor position for each wire.

Any Ideas

 

After 01 the speed sensor is on the front differential .. 1998-01 TRX450S gear position switch only has neutral & reverse wires .. 1998-01 TRX450ES gear position switch has neutral , reverse & 5th gear wires .. 2002-04 TRX450FM has neutral & reverse wires .. 2002-04 TRX450FE gear position switch has R , N , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 wires ...

 

Thanks for your reply. Bieng that the 1998 s motor has only a n and r sensor and the chassis has wiring for each gear it appears impossible to make the chassis indicator work. Is there any way without engine dissasembly to put the right gear sensor in the engine?

I am going to hook up the n and reverse wires from the engine to the n and r wires on the chasiss and assume this is as good as im going to get. The digital indicator will I assume flash a daskhed line all the time, but as the engine is now foot shift it appears as it will drive.

Do you know if there are going to be any problems asside from the flashing gear idicator. The 2wd 4wd selector appears to work, but will there be problems when the machine is rode. Also do I need to do anything with the angle sensor if the machine will be an foot shift?

Thank you for your help.

 

As a side note, what was the problem with the other motor that you could not strip both down and rebuild the proper motor with donor parts from the foot shift?

In any case I think you are right in saying you wont have gear position readout, but at least your bike is rideable. I'd go somewhere close for your first ride and dont stray too far just to make sure everything is OK.

 

Ill have to post pictures. The original motor was the most rediculous failure I ever had or have ever heard of. The connecting rod snapped and blew a 6" dia hole in the case and cracked it all the way around.

Also I was reluctant to even open the cases on such a complicated engine to swap parts, and I had nothing but issues with the ES.

She runs and everything works now accept the digital gear readout.

 

I am having issues getting the Idle down, and none of the brakes work in case anyone has any good tips on these issues.

Does anyone know at what temp should the fan kick on?

 

IF the bike has been laid up for awhile the carb may be gummed up and need to be cleaned. I'd dissassemble it and clean it out well with good aerosol carb cleaner. The idle adjustment is the black **** on the right side (at least thats where it is on my '98).

As for the brakes, again if its been sitting and there was water or moisture in the brakes they may be siezed up and need to be dissassembled and cleaned. On the fronts clean everything up well, dissassemble the adjusters and lube them with anitseize compound. For the back, you may need to clean and grease the pivot for the foot brake, and also clean the rear brakes. Important to check here is the shaft comming from the outside where the cables attach to inside that operates the brakes. take this out, clean it well and grease it so it turns freely.

As for the fan, mine rarely comes on, I have no idea at what temperature.