jeepwm69

Thanks for letting us know the solution. Will likely help someone else out in the future with the same problem.

I'd check for power going into and out of the EFI and Stop relay. On my 09 420 I would get power to display, but no spark with a bad EFI relay, but sounds like your machine might be a bit different with the 2nd relay, and again, no telling what you'll get with aftermarket bits. Plug the old OEM relays into your harness, and see if you get display, or if anything is different. A lot of the time, simply rapping the relays on the rack and cleaning the connections in the plug will allow them to temporarily work again.

I put a 450 Perfex kit on one of my 500's, and I have a 400 swingarm in my other 500,which also has a perfex on it. I'm 99.9999% sure that 450 kit will bolt right onto a 400 with no issues. If I had to guess, the 400, 450, and 500 perfex kits are probably all the exact same components.

The rear will fit. The rear swingarm, diff, and axle tubes are the same on the 400 as they are on the 450. The only change made was the hitch was welded to the tube on the early ones, and bolt on on the later ones. Not sure about the front, as I believe the 450 suspension is a bit taller than the 400, but as hard as a perfex is to find these days, I'd just on it if the price is right. The front of the perfex is just like any other bracket lift. The rear is what is perfex specific.

Huh.....well that's new. I knew the 420's had a pull start in Canada, but didn't realize you had a 2nd relay back there. I thought it was just a capacitor and the recoil itself. Do you have your old OEM relays?

@AKATV might be able to help you. Does the meter come on at all? Light up when the headlights are on? Can you post a pic?

You could run that wire directly to the positive wire terminal on the contactor. All you need is 12V, so you could really hook it up anywhere that is a powered wire.

@retro @Melatv anything to add?

Aren't the engine stop relay and fuel pump relay together in the same part? My guess is the fuel pump relay is the problem. These Hondas do not work well, if at all, with aftermarket china electrical crap on them. Get an OEM relay and see if that fixes your problem. You'll see a similar issue here in this recent thread which is still ongoing, and I've got a 2012 Foreman in my yard which is also having ignition issues, which I suspect are caused by aftermarket electrical stuff being put on in an attempt to troubleshoot a no-spark issue. 2010 Honda Rancher 420TEA ignition fuse issue. - Electronics - ATV Honda

Did you use OEM parts on the relay etc?

At this point you gotta decide if you want to be "in for a penny, in for a pound" or give up on it and take a big loss. Given what you've put into now, and the fact that there is very little demand for parts for the early Rubicons (high-ish failure rate on the early models) I think I'd try to fix it. How handy are you with a wrench? Doing it yourself you'd only be out time and effort, plus whatever Brian recommends on the Hondamatic and oil pump. Paying someone else to do it you're probably better off cutting your losses. We can walk you through it if you decide to move forward. Toodeep and Rich450es walked me through my first engine rebuild about 10-12 years ago, and since then I've probably rebuilt 20-25 engines for myself, family, and friends.

I hate to hear that. I see a lot of the old Rubicons for sale with "Runs great, but won't shift/ pull, just needs angle sensor, ECU etc" and a lot of the time it's the oil pump/ Hondamatic that is bad. But, if you want to get it right, you can look here and contact @Brian Bertram. He might be able to rebuild your Hondamatic (Honda considers them "non-serviceable") or have a used unit you could buy. But first, let's do a little reading. Brian's contact info is in this thread. He's not on here much, but is very responsive to emails. And here you can kinda see what's inside of these things. I've always been a footshift guy, but wife wanted an auto, and didn't like the newer DCT I got her, so into the Rubicons we went, and now I have one running, one that probably needs a Hondamatic (read below thread) a 2004 that I think is good, and an extra 07 engine that I'm hoping I can use to fix the one in the thread below. Please let us know how it goes. There aren't many people who "know" the Hondamatics like Brian does, and I'm trying to learn all I can without bugging him incessantly with every little question. I'd like to get quite a bit of info about them on this site to help others out in the future.

Switch OEM or aftermarket? Looks like if you have continuity from switch to ign fuse, then the switch might be bad. You could try shaving a bit of insulation off the wires going to ignition switch and use a jumper wire to see if you get power that way. If so, bad switch.

Check your messages. Forwarded you a listing from a guy parting out three Rubicon’s

First thing I'd do is see if that fuse is hot on one side, and not the other (use a test light). Sometimes a fuse will connect on one side, but the connector gets pushed down in the fuse box, and the other side doesn't make the connection. If that doesn't work, you might have a bad fuel pump relay, or a bank angle/ flip over sensor. Remove the fuel pump relay, tap it on something, and plug it back in. See if that works. You can bypass the bank angle sensor by unplugging it and putting a jumper into the wiring harness side of the connector (paper clip, for example). @retro @Melatv and @AKATV seem to be the best at the electrical gremlins on here. My recommendation is based on things I've had them help me with over the years.

Ah, ok then. I would mount the contactor to the tractor and battery, and use something like this for the wiring, put the winch itself on some sort of receiver hitch type mount. https://www.amazon.com/Bulldog-20018-Quick-Connect-Winches/dp/B000KJ1L18 For a tractor you could tie the red wire for the "key" to a wire that is hot with the tractor running, OR you could run a wire from battery to a toggle switch, and then hook the red wire to the other side of that toggle. That way you plug winch in with that heavy connector, flip switch, and you're ready to go. No risk of the contactor going nuts and killing your battery/ burning your tractor down that way.

I'd hook the red wire up to a hot wire they is only hot with key on. Otherwise, if you get a sticking switch or contactor you might come back to a wheeler with a destroyed winch. I had one do that several years ago. Just kept trying to wind in until the battery was dead, and the roller fairlead was destroyed. What machine are you working on?

Interesting. So the chipped away area is the damage? Where did you get the diagram below your pic? Since Honda considers the Hondamatic "non-serviceable" there isn't anything in the FSM that I've found on disassembling the Hondamatic itself.

Awesome! Thank you! Brian is by far the foremost expert I've run across on the Hondamatics. He's very personable and I talked to him a long time on the phone one night when I emailed him a question that he thought would be easier to explain verbally. Shoot him an email and keep us posted on how it goes!

If I recall correctly, the 2wd and 4wd Rancher use different bulbs. Makes no sense to me, but I've seen that out there several times when people were asking about HID options. So, what specific machine do you have @Chesnuts54?

Welcome aboard. The man to talk to is Brian Bertram, and while he is a member here, he's not on here often. His contact info can be found in this thread. He does respond to emails, so try that route. Would you mind doing a thread showing what you end up doing as you go? I have always been a footshift guy, but delved into the Hondamatics a couple of years ago. Last year I rebuilt a 2012 Rubicon and did not tear the Hondamatic itself down. Once I got the engine back together I found that once the machine got good and hot the Hondamatic would slip. Brain said it could be scored bores/ pistons in the Hondamatic, or trash in the pump blocking oil flow, so gotta tear it back down. I currently have an 04 engine torn down on my bench. It was locked up when I got it, and ended up being a stator bolt that had backed out and locked up the flywheel. Plan is to clean it out well and reassemble with new timing/ oil pump chains, top end, and seals. But I will have to tear that 2012 engine back down and will have to tear that Hondamatic itself down, and while I know a bit about them, I haven't torn a Hondamatic transmission unit down yet.

She chased it another 100 yards, then there was a 2nd, larger dilla there. She got torn on which one to chase and they both scampered off in opposite directions.

That makes perfect sense, and puts me a little more at ease about plugging in the PSN coil when it arrives. I will update! @Mach 1, any progress on your Rancher?

Well, originally the problem was chewed wires/rodent damage, but the woman's brother tried a Caltric voltage regulator and a coil from NAPA, so when I spliced the wires back together it died on her again shortly thereafter. Caltric voltage regulator is in a box in the rear basket, original back on. New/ used coil is on the way from PSN. You think I'd be ok just putting a new 10A fuse in with the new OEM coil and trying it?

Are you sure you're not starving for fuel? Either spray a bit of starter fluid on the air filter, or a bit of gas. See if anything happens. If you still don't have spark, I'd start looking for mice chewed wires, both back around the battery, and you'll probably have to pull the front fender to expose the ECU which is under the front fender right below the pod headlight.