Hi all

Have 2002 Foreman 500 Rubicon Fourtrax.
Property use only.
2 days ago it suddenly refused to go back in reverse. Was backfiring and jerking, not really moving. Moved fine forward.
I finally noticed that D1 D2 and ESP were flashing, after I put my glasses on.
I did the code retrieval with up/down buttons and it blinks 10 times. ECM safe fail relay.
Went to ECM to find out that it was, likely - I bought bike used - removed before. ECM box was pretty loose, held in place with one non stock bolt.
Took it out, cleaned contacts with electronic cleaner, lubricated plugs with dielectric grease, put ECM back in. Plugs don't want to engage now all the way in. As in - safety clips won't clip as they should, no matter what. Finally did my best to get plugs all the way in, even secured them in place with zip ties. Turned key - same flashing situation.
Surprisingly, bike starts from half crank.
Yesterday, pulled battery cables off. For about an hour.
As the result, flashing D1 D2 ESP stopped. Pushed bike out, started it, started fine, tried ECM reset procedure. Maybe I didn't do it right (How are you supposed to move throttle lever to fully closed, if it's in fully closed per default?) but not much success with that. Read today that entire process has to be done very fast, I may retry today.
Anyhow, final result is like this:
bike is in what I presume, safe mode. Starts fine, engine runs fine, moves forward maybe at 2mph with engine revving, Reverse same situation - backfiring and jerking.
Display does NOT show any gears on it. No D or R, only " - - ". N green light comes up when moved into Neutral. Nothing is flashing.

Any suggestions? Unfortunately, I am very dumb electrically, so checking colored wires with multimeter is not my forte. Sorry. I can do mechanical jobs, check on switches and such, I'll check on gear switch next, but need guidance.
Thank you. Yes, I do have manual and read it all the time.

 

Sounds like gear switch bad just guess from what you said

 

I haven't got the official manual for the Rubicon, but don't recon the "fail safe relay" is part of the ECM. You won't get the machine to go out of fail safe until you fix the fault. All sorts of faults cause it to go into fail safe mode, the gearbox angle sensor is the most common, but as the code told you it is the relay, find that and test it first.

 

I don't think that relay is a separate part. I think, it's built into ECM. It's fail safe relay circuit, full name.
That said, in shop manual, there are diagnostic procedures for each code.
Mine showed code 10, ECM fail safe relay fault.

I actually finally noticed codes 9,10, and 12 problem diagnostic. Bad ECM.
I had one ordered 2 days ago, just in case.

 

Voltage converter circuit fault means it has detected incorrect voltage, could be due to the ECM going wrong, but could be the regulator feeding the battery with the wrong voltage. Check the regulator is producing no more than 14.5v with engine running before fitting a new ECM.

 

Will do, thank you. It's scheduled for delivery Tuesday. I'll follow.

 

T'was ECM. Just replaced it, came in yesterday. Was a bit cranky to start, considering set for a week and new ECM, but did ECM reset procedure, all good.

 

subscribed, this seems like a very interesting thread

 

Runs fine. Even starts without choke.