AKATV

(Starts off kinda dry, like an old dealer video, but some really good technical and ES design and tips about halfway thru till the end, I was surprised)

Found this video on 450ES that is from back in the day Explains a lot of the ECU and programming parameters on shifting and such Very good breakdown of sensors switches and ECU operations as well as troubleshooting tips Found it quite informative -AKATV

Did he pull the boot and check spark directly at the wire?

Really late to the party on this one - grandkids were here for a week Heres a shot in the dark We had an 07 Foreman 500 (non PS) a few years back we went crazy with the same symptoms- dropping spark when hot finally after all the same troubleshooting and swapping I decided to pull sparkplug boot off when it was hot and not sparking, it sparked from end of wire, put boot back on and no spark- replaced boot and its still working to this day. Not sure if it was OEM boot on there but know we replaced it with OEM (yellow) Might be worth checking out? I sure sure you have swapped sparkplugs at this point -AKATV

Are you trying to shift with the motor running with the motor off? Also, I have found in my experience if your Idle speed is too high it will not shift when sitting still, even if you rock it Did you try loosening the shift motor bolts just a bit and see if the shift motor was binding? Make sure your battery is in good shape and you are getting proper voltage to the shift motor If it’s getting weak, It might only be good for one or two shifts before the voltage drops The ES system has to have a very good battery/ voltage regulator to work properly -AKATV

Hi and welcome to the forum! If you can post a few pictures of what you have going on with your speedometer, I will send my contact information to your message box and I will do my best to help you get it sorted out -AKATV

Water damage circuit boards on these are pretty much a death sentence If the board is water damaged and corroded to the point where parts are falling off the board then generally at that point, it means the circuit traces are probably destroyed on the board as well. I’ll know more if I can take a look at it. Post a picture or two of the circuitboard and I can let you know what I think I will send my contact information to your message box if you’d like to look into a repair or have me source parts for you -AKATV

OK they’re probably still OK then I have heard of shift motors binding, I can’t remember why -if it was due to a missing gasket or something? Try loosening the shift motor bolts just a bit and see if you’re able to use the electric shift also, are you trying to shift through the gears with the motor running or without the motor running? because if you’re not rocking it slightly when it’s not running, it will not drop fully into gear -AKATV

Also might want to make sure that the reduction gears are timed properly I know there’s a little mark on there did you have to line up when you put them together also, make sure you have a good strong battery powering that shift motor -if your speedometer cuts out and restarts or it goes blank when you’re using the electric start or trying to shift, that’s a sign of a weak battery -AKATV

OK so what you’re saying is your board powers up and works just fine and displays properly except for the black spot- is that correct? Honda never sold the display separately from the speedometer assembly. It was all one unit and they were discontinued many years ago. The foreman 450 S model displays were prone to this internal failure, causing the black spots more than any other model so even when you can find one in working condition usually the display is bad so they are a little trickier to come across them in good working condition I might be able to source a used working LCD display for you if you’d like to contact me for a repair I sent my contact information to your message box -AKATV

The black ink type mark on the LCD is non-repairable it’s permanent and is actually internal damage Your circuit card doesn’t show any obvious signs of water damage or anything else Make sure you have power on the black/red wire in the brown/black wire using green as ground with key on and see if it powers up then if so, then you only need to work on getting a replacement display Let me know how you make out and I’ll send my contact information to your message box if you’d like to look into a repair -AKATV

Hi and welcome to the forum! Post a picture or two with headlights on so its illuminated (if powering up) I will send contact information to your message box for you as well -AKATV

Are you saying you put it all back together with the original parts? If you have it all back together with the original parts and the shift motor is trying to shift but not shifting electronically, but it shifts fine manually using the tool, you might want to check the magnets inside the shift motor they get cracked sometimes or the glue comes loose and they will make weak attempts to shift make sure you have a good strong battery as well As far as the no gear indicator on your speedometer post a picture, most likely it needs to be reprogrammed Does your speedometer read speed properly? -AKATV

The pictures sure to help a lot I can tell you with 100% certainty that your LCD has failed internally and It is not repairable. I might be able to source some parts for you or you might be able to pick up Shadetrees whole assembly (new) if he still has it available I will send my contact information to your message box as well -AKATV

Hi Sounds like you might have a failed/failing capacitor or zener diode on your board I see it quite often especially on that model If you would like to contact me for a repair I will send my contact information to your message box -AKATV

Hi Welcome to the forum! I will send my contact information to your message box Hope to see you around the forum -AKATV

MAR1949 sent a picture to me Meter stays in neutral with "N" being displayed for all gears Having him check gear position switch as per manual He also informed me he has a bypass kit on his Rancher 350 (ES) I have not run a bypass kit- so wanted to ask members what/how gears are displayed on meter when using one? I know that half the gears are hard wire generated from the gear position switch and the other half are determined by angle sensor/ECU which are unlplugged when using bypass kit But either way, it should not be showing neutral for every gear Other possibility is that the shift drum has cracked off on the end or bad gear position switch which he said he just replaced so maybe the gear position switch pin was not aligned with the "N" on switch during but either way it would not just stay in Neutral -AKATV

Welcome to the forum! Post a picture of the display issue if you can If the gear shift position indicator is missing, it will need to be reprogrammed If gear indicator is present on LCD, but not displaying the gears properly, it could be a cracked shift drum or faulty gear position switch I will send my contact info to your message box as well -AKATV

Hi and welcome to the forum! If you’d like to look into repair, I’ll send my contact information to your message box -AKATV

Welcome to the forum! Yes, I am currently still repairing these. I will send my contact information to your message box. -AKATV

Welcome to the forum I sent my contact information to your message box if you’d like to look into a repair -AKATV

Thanks Jeep! He PM'd me too and I had responded to that one and missed this one -AKATV

Hi, welcome to the forum You’re in a great place to fix up your foreman 450, lots of owners and. riders here I have sent my contact information to your message box Hope to see you around the forum! -AKATV

Thanks for the pictures The first one definitely has UV/Sun damage to the LCD display that I can most likely repair. The second one has internal LCD damage is not repairable. If you’d like to contact me for a repair, I’ll send my contact information to your message box -AKATV

If you can post a picture, I’ll know more about what needs to be repaired depending on what the issue is I might be able to repair it -AKATV