2000 honda rancher 350

[dustrunner]

Picked one up today..less than 1000 miles on it .. Runs good... All original...anything i should look out for ?

[atc007]

Choke cables were updated,oe leaked water down the cable into the choke barrel. ES or shifter? Great bikes, a good servicing is all a low miler like that should need!

[6speedthumper]

Another thing that was updated was the valve cover gasket. The production ones are a paper gasket. Honda updated them, and the new ones are steel with a stamped ridge. I just did one, and a choke cable, on an 01 Rancher.

[dustrunner]

it has the electric shift .. seems to work good .. hopefully they last...although I looked at a Rincon few years back that was beat and didnt shift... choke works good and I keep everything covered so hopefully that will last also ?

[dustrunner]

welp, guess the e shift is gonna be a worry but mine has the shaft coming out of the engine with what liooks like a 12 mm cap ..is that to use a wrench on ?

[6speedthumper]

The ES quads have an auxiliary foot shifter tucked away in the tool box. It goes onto the hex drive shift shaft on the left side of the engine, where the foot shifter typically goes. It works OK. The lever is a bit too high for you to really ride it that way, but, it'll get you back to camp if the ES fails.

[dustrunner]

so if the es fails. I can run it with a foot shifter the rest of my life ?

[atc007]

No, if the ES fails. It will most likely be the angle sensor on the front of the engine. Easy to diagnose,about $30. I keep one in stock.Put pure synthetic oil in it. Run it hot,drain it overnight, rinse a little diesel or gas down through the cases,,,don't run it,just rinsing the clutch grit out... Then put your fav pure syn in it,and feel the magic happen right between your legs. It may take one more oil change,but usually within 10 miles. She will start feeling like a brand new machine.. Actually better than new. Great bikes.

[dustrunner]

I got sucked into another 1 of these ugh. its a 2004 ...got it home and couldn't get it out of 1st gear. guy said battery was dead so we pull started it and I rode it around his house and it shifted good but reverse acted up once then started working again . I tested battery when I got it home and it was fine. but supposedly newer starter on it but it wont turn it. ugh... anywho now it will only shift from neutral into 1st with the push button. then I hafta use the wrench to put it back into neutral...any ideas from the pros ?

[dustrunner]

also the dash goes out when headlight are turned on ...when not running.

[shortline10]

Check the main wires at the battery and the main
30a fuse in the fuse box .
Also once you shift with the manual shifter on the es models you will need to turn it off with the key and back on to reset the electric shift .
Intermittent reverse issues are usually a loose connection at the reverse switch which is located just below the recoil .
The shift angle sensors are also common to go bad .
If you have a working lcd dash they will usually throw a flash code telling you what’s failing. You’ll have to look up the code .

[dustrunner]

ok, that explains why after I set the clock from 1:00 the next time I turned the key on it read 1:00 while flashing. is it possible to just us a homemade manual shifter on it without causing problems ?

[shortline10]

Go to hondaESshifter.com to purchase a manual shifter , scroll down to find your model.
http://hondaesshifter.com/

You can remove the gears from the shift motor if you want , will make it shift easier with the manual shifter .

[dustrunner]

I'm gonna try a new angle sensor like 007 said 5 years ago..lol it has now miles so hopefully that will fix it. Still confused why the dash goes blank when lights are turned on not running. And I set the clock and turned it off then back on and it was still correct. Weird.

[dustrunner]

It's a. Trx350fe4 if that makes a difference ?

[shortline10]

No difference

[ps2fixer]

How do you keep finding these machines with electrical problems xD.

Looks like the Honda has a similar system as the Brute Force for error codes if any are set. This is from the 2004-2006 service manual. Seems kind of silly that the machine has the ability to display digital numbers but instead uses the blink system.

https://i.gyazo.com/2cf1a0dd0d3a7246a70ccb761e9daabb.png
https://i.gyazo.com/16c248dcda69b298fbfda435c673c75a.png
https://i.gyazo.com/bf2f3316e573383a558c2483fbf99932.png



Here's the diag info for testing the angle sensor. Its function is to change resistance based on how much the sensor turns, sounds to work basically the same as a throttle position sensor on a car. The last part is basically testing the reference voltage from the ECU which seems to be based on a 5v signal like a car too.

https://i.gyazo.com/dfb7ea5957e3fa0e5dc49086ab369ecf.png
https://i.gyazo.com/7af6218a20084ddf9e387d0230368dba.png
https://i.gyazo.com/0d66dddf60e3b77f8c5902745e7286cb.png






For the dash going out with lights on, engine off - first thing I'd check is battery voltage with the lights on to see how much it drops, might be as simple as a weak battery. Lights don't care about voltage much, they just get dimmer at lower voltage, computers and such on the other hand have a min voltage or they just won't work. If electric start works but it won't fire, this could be the same side effect.

Also, same story as the brute force, the power for ECU and Lights comes from the same wire after it runs through the ignition switch. Could be a poor connection making too much of a voltage drop but defo a weird issue.

You fixed the clock loosing time by replacing the 30 amp main fuse right? I wasn't 100% if that issue was fixed or not based on the replies. The ECU get's power two different ways, one that is always powered to keep memory (clock and such) and the other way is via ignition switch. Seems like the dash going blank with the lights on relates to the ignition switch power wire and it shouldn't loose the time settings. We might have another case of someone poking wires like your brute force, but the wires not being in as bad of condition.





For the electric start... back to more multi meter testing like your other machine lol.

Starter solenoid has two little wires coming out of it, Light Green/Red and Yellow/Red. The Light Green/Red is the ground side, it grounds through a neutral/reverse switch when in neutral. That would make the Yellow/Red wire the power wire to activate it which comes directly from the starter button. The starter button gets power from the same wire as the lights do so that narrows down the possible issues a fair bit.

Test neutral/revers switch, Light green/Red at starter solenoid to ground, should read dead short while in neutral, no connection in any other gear.
Test starter button, test in volts from neg on battery to yellow/red wire going to starter solenoid with the key on and start button pressed. You should see battery voltage or close to it.

If both of the above test good, it's possible the starter solenoid is bad. Best to disconnect the battery first, but you can bench test it by removing the solenoid and powering it off a 12v battery. You should hear a solid click noise. If it clicks, you can test the two big lugs with the multi meter in ohms, with it powered it should show as dead short, and when it's not powered it should have no connection.

If that all tests good, then we would be looking at battery cables, starter cable and the actual starter motor.



I think that gets a start on all of the issues. Seems like you have 3 different issues all at once. I suspect the shift problem should be the first thing to dig into and fix. I assume the angle sensor is the cause but I don't have first hand experience, just makes sense from the other replies. Second thing I'd focus on after that is fixing the electric start so the machine is more usable, then the blank screen issue. Probably wouldn't hurt testing the charging system too, aka test battery voltage, start the machine and make sure battery voltage increased.

Good luck with the machine, hopefully some solid progress can be made =).

[dustrunner]

lol, Just unlucky I guess. Must be something in the water around here. everything I OWN IS MESSED UP RITE NOW, Cell phone, computer , wow.