nice to see you've gotten so many resonses from hones ESP riders. i bought my '00 rancher 4x4 es used in 2001. it has about 1200 miles on it now and has been flawless since i've owned it. i was sceptical at first about the es but i heard honda worked out the problems when they first introduced it on the foreman. from the sounds of all the other owners....it's either flawless or it's junk.
i have taken mine to the west virginia mountains and the sand dunes here in michigan and recently threw a blade on it to plow snow......i can't complain about mine one bit. oh yeah, don't rely on the supplied shifter....it's only to limp home with.
'00 rancher
girl friend - '00 polaris trailblazer

 

I will soon tell you within a day or two just how good the foreman es is , Mine is under water right now I will be getting it out tomarrow and will begin to dry out all of the goody,s .

 

Taylormade
I hope to hear a first hand report on this one, i bet its going to be good.

 

Well we got her out and it runs , it is real sluggish though , the digital display works it shifts into all gears , I will have more work to do until it is done though , the oil is white the switches must have silt in them have to clean those out.

 

I haven't looked real close but I'll bet the servo motor that does the ES shifting is flooded. hehe that might make it shift a little "sluggish"

 

The shifting is ok the engine is sluggish , I think it still has water in the gas.

 

Well that should say it all - ES spends 1 day under water and still works!!!

 

That alone says the electrics are sealed pretty good. I would get some cans of electricsol ( electric contact cleaner) and spray down all of the switch's, wire connecters etc. they work good now but a bead of water could cause some corrosion problems later.

 

I always highly recommend taking apart all electrical connectors and coating with dielectric grease, especially the spark plug. This is best done before you get wet!!!

 

TaylorMade, you had better change the oil immediately. The reason it is white is because there is water in your oil. Once you whip oil and water together it looks like weak chocolate milk. You will have to change it a couple of times to remove all the water. This can severely effect engine life and could be the source of your sluggish engine performance. I would not run the engine at ALL until you drain - replace - run - drain -replace all the oil and filter. Check after each change, oil is cheaper than an engine rebuild.

The only problem I've experienced with my lil bro's 2002 Rancher ES is the 'reverse wire', for lack of a better term, has come off twice and the quad would not go into reverse. I've attached it securely now, but it did pop off during normal riding twice. I personally don't see the big deal with shifting with your thumb. In my opinion it's much easier than hitting the button with your thumb. You do get the running boards and the digital dash with the ES model though. Both are nice.