I got a 2007 Rancher 420 es that has been giving me problems lately. It was shifting down but not up. Today I got it in third gear, but now it's stuck like its in neutral. The screen says 3rd but it wont move. I noticed here lately that if I tap the solenoid on the front of the engine it will switch up and down, but today it done nothing. My question, is it the angle sensor or the shift solenoid or shift motor? Thanks for any info.

 

Can you use the manual shift tool to shift gear selection?

 

I thought I saw an older post on this issue and they said they just cleaned off the shift motor? IIRC

 

I really think Honda should give up on the E.S system. There is just hundreds of post on the screwing up and even on fairly new machines.

Use the "advance search" feature on this site and read the hundreds of post on and the answer is somewhere in one of them.

 

I have a 2012 420fe honda fourtrax rancher. I lost the key so joined wires at ignition to use. Worked fine for awhile until 1 night it rained then it stopped working. All of a sudden ,No spark, and dont here the fuel pump kick on. Bike will turn over checked everything i could think of. Angle sensor. Fuses, relays. I belive something might have shorted out.

 

Firstly, fit a proper ignition switch. You are lucky it was a late Honda, as joining the "wires at ignition" on any other bike would have blown a fuse and possibly the CDI. The wiring diagram on a 420 ES is a nightmare. Find out if you are getting power via the two input wires to the switch and follow back from there, It is a weird system, one live feed from fuse box to switch feeds a relay, which switches the other live feed from fuse box to switch, on. This seems a pointless exercise in complexity, but that is modern Honda wiring. Get the wiring diagram and follow it for fault finding, that is all you can do.

 

i'm not sure on yours, but i had issues on an 04 and the connection on back side of motor was worked loose. i cleaned and crimped the fitting tighter then reinstalled. Never had another issue