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98 Foreman 450ES - Troubleshooting Electric Shift

Old Feb 21, 2022 | 07:42 AM
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Default 98 Foreman 450ES - Troubleshooting Electric Shift

Ive been here with this problem before and had lots of help from people (Merryman, Stevereno). Had to put it away for awhile, but I am back at it. To review, I had a no shift problem and went through the troubleshooting step, threw a bunch of parts at it, but still could not find or fix the issue. I finally just hooked up a manual shift bar so I could use the bike for summer work around the property. It's winter now and I have the time to attack the problem again, so this is the beginning of that process.


 
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Old Feb 21, 2022 | 08:09 AM
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To start I just stripped it down to make it easier to get to all the connectors that have to be tested with the multimeter. Volts, OHMs, resistance, continuity -- all Greek to me but I figured it out. To date, during the parts cannon stage, I have replaced pretty much everything including and not in any specific order: electronic control unit, angle sensor, main relay, voltage regulator, shift control motor, ignition coil and prolly a couple more things I can't remember.
What I am hoping to accomplish with this post is to document everything in the hopes it will help someone else with this problem. I know there are lots of posts about electric shift problems, but none are complete and very few explain whether or not the problem was resolved.
So a warning: this will be a long and boring post over the next couple of weeks.
Thanks and feel free to offer advice or just tell me to STFU
 
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Old Feb 21, 2022 | 06:54 PM
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No shift at all?does it click when up or down shift button are pushed?
 
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Old Feb 22, 2022 | 07:29 AM
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HI Papa.
IT started off as an intermittent no shift at all, no clicks up or down. However, some days it worked great and others not so much. Towards the end on initial start-up it would shift up to first, but that was it. No more shifts, no more clicks up or down. I ran through the troubleshooting steps in the 98 - 2004 Honda Service manual for my model section 21. The results were that the ecu was bad. I replaced it, but the problem remained. Then I brought out the parts cannon.
To date, I am stuck at the Angle Sensor Connector not getting enough voltage. Checked continuity and I have continuity --- so ECU bad? Hard to believe.



I've bypassed that stumbling block for now. The Angle Sensor itself it functioning as it should. The Shift Motor functions as it should. I have continuity at the Shift Switch connector. And I have continuity at the Gear Position Switch connector.
That's where I am at the moment. I need to check continuity through the gear changes.
Any help or advice is much appreciated.
 
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Old Feb 23, 2022 | 07:15 PM
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I know this is a dumb question is the atv charging ok?
 
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Old Feb 23, 2022 | 07:37 PM
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Brand new Battery - 2-days old - 12.65v - at the posts.
12.35 at the ECU depending on where I tag the grnd.
So I dunno if it's charging okay as I have not had it running until today.

I'm sure there's a point to your question that I don't understand - and no question is dumb - I should know, I have a section on Wikipedia dedicated to them.
 

Last edited by rumblecloud; Feb 24, 2022 at 07:42 AM. Reason: clarification
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Old Feb 25, 2022 | 01:04 PM
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Spoiler
 



I've given up chasing ghosts. I hate to say I lost this battle so I'll go with "compromise."
Considering the time and money already spent and no guarantee moving forward that this issue will be resolved no matter how much more money I put into it, I am putting a lid on this one.

Only advice I can give is if the problem doesn't become evident rather quickly, go the manual shift route and save your sanity.
 
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Old Feb 25, 2022 | 07:09 PM
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No thats not charging enough to supply volt to system if the is half throttle may have volage regulator issue are the metal 30 amp fuse is blown its in rubber boot behind battery
 
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Old Feb 25, 2022 | 07:12 PM
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https://www.partzilla.com/catalog/ho...s/wire-harness
 
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Old Feb 25, 2022 | 07:13 PM
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photo #19 is the metal 30 amp fuse I was talking about
 
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