What a disappointment! I bought a Rancher ES back in August for the main purpose of plowing snow this winter. We finally get a snow... I'm psyched to try it out.... but the ES would not work!! Nothing. It's worked fine the few times I've ridden in warm weather ... shifts without fail.... but not today. I had to use the hand crank everytime. What's up with this???? Anyone else had this problem or have a suggestion about how to fix it?

 

The ES feature itself is not affected by temprature changes.

Every ES model [Rancher or Foreman] that i have seen with a sudden problem with shifting in cold weather was due to moisture in the shifting motor from a previous water crossing. This freezes and will not allow the shifting motor to work. You can test this by simply connecting a test light to one of the wires from the shifting motor and then push the shift button and have it light up. I don't have a wiring schematic here with me, so I can't remember which color wire exactly. A call to your local dealer's service department can help you with this test.

I have seen a few hard core mud riders around here who carry the small propane torches with them at all times. When their shift motors freeze up at camp, they simply [and carefully!] run the torch over the shifting motor until it thaws out.

Water in the shifting motor will not go away and what little engine heat it gets from riding is hardly enough to make it evaporate quickly, so if you bought yours in August and don't know it's history, I would take it off anyway and dry it out if for nothing more than peace of mind when the temprature falls again.

The ES system is fairly complicated and nothing I would allow a shadetree mechanic to tamper with. If you aren't getting power to your shifting motor, carry it to your dealer for repair.

 

Does anyone know if you can seal the motor to keep water out of it? If the buttons freeze up, that is a minor problem easily taken care of. But if the shift motor likes to get water in it and freeze, I might be inclined to get an S model instead of an ES in the spring to avoid the hassle.

 

I've seen the ES fail on Foremen and Ranchers in warm weather in my classes, and fail from dead batteries. It is no fun to limp along with the manual shifter on your ES, it usually falls off on the first hard bump or turn and then...you're toast. Never experienced any type of problem or failure with the manual shift on my Foreman S, and have never heard of one on anyone else's. Shift with your left foot, it knows how and gets bored just sitting on the footrest. Your left thumb needs to be busy gripping the bars, not poking buttons to shift. Mechanical beats electrical for a highly stressed and constantly used control like a shifter. Remember the KISS principle--Keep It Simple, Shifting. Words to live and ride by. The S is the best.

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll take a look at the shift motor this weekend.

On a similar note (cold weather), do you think I need an engine block heater? A guy at work suggested I get one but I'm not sure it's necessary because the Rancher isn't water cooled. It's not stored in a heated space. It's outside under the porch with a cover on it.

 

I put a 12000km km on my first 450es and 3500km on my rancher and rode these atv's in - 30 degrees celcius with out any trouble!

KNOWALOT ,seems to have the answer!

 

Also check the wire connections. I don't know if this will help. I was riding with a guy today, it was working fine then 20 minutes latter it wouldnt shift in to reverse. We checked the cable and then took it to the dealer. They cleaned some mud/water out of the connetor under the rear fender on the right side. We didnt go threw any mud or water today so it must have been from last weeks outing/cleaning.