Hello all , new to forum and to Honda atvs. Will keep it as brief as I can and welcome and thank you in advancer any help.
We purchased a new to us 04. 350 rancher es this weekend for my wife to ride. Starts and runs beautifully. Shifts good a couple times then nothing, have to use manual shift to N then turn off and restart and will shift a few times then same issue returns within a minute or less. We went riding Saturday night and figured we would just leave in 2nd or 3rd and maintain appropriate speeds for that gear, the dang thing worked ALL night long. Got done riding, made a quick lap before heading to the house and the problem returned.
I looked all over this forum. Battery is good , took shift motor off and cleaned it , greased the gear box (where the shift motor slides in to ? ) replaced angle sensor, removed angle sensor and “preloaded” it to the best I understood how. So what am I missing ? I haven’t seen on here where it shifts great for a few times the nothing , no click or even trying and then intermittently will work for an hour or two. The display is broke so no idea if it is showing any code or sign etc. Thanks in advance.

 

I honestly do not know, but it sounds similar to a loose connection somewhere being that it comes and goes kind of like a broken wire that is shifted in one direction or another. When the wire makes contact, it works, then once contact is broken again, the signal stops. Maybe do a continuity test from the button to the sensor and sensor to mechanism... Just trying to offer "possibilities".

i've had wires in cars visually look fine, but actually fractured inside and lost the electrical connection. look for any kinks or heavy heat damage signs.

Hope you fix it.

 

Ok , thanks. I will see what I can see. not too salty on electrical stuff really but will give it a go.
thanks for replying.

 

Hope you haven't "preloaded" the angle sensor as the normal resting position for it is bang centre of the bolt holes. It is automatic Hondas that have a preloaded angle sensor. Did you check the brushes on that motor, as they are worn out on many circa 03 machines? 2003 is the changeover year from early ES to one that (theoretically) gives a fault code if anything goes wrong with the ES system. Would make life easier if you could plug in a working speedo to check if it is showing a fault code.

 

so did I ruin angle sensor ? The first time I installed I did not preload, no change, removed and preloaded it and put back , also no change. I assume it was never the problem and I havent hurt anything?

 

"did I ruin angle sensor"

Who knows, is the answer to that. There are resistance tests you can do on the sensor, but I can't remember off-hand what the values are, I know you put the ohm meter on the centre pin, and one outside pin, then turn the bit in the middle with a screwdriver, and the resistance changes as you turn. Then repeat for the other outside pin.