[Rednex]

Hello Everyone, first post here.

I have a 2004 foreman 450.


1. K&N
2. Dynojet kit with 134 Main Jet, the foreman comes with 130
3. Newly installed Supertrapp Mudslinger

At first the quad was running perfect. Ran about 40 Kms no problems.

On Friday I washed the fourwheeler and I decided to change the plug, plug was nice and brown. Perfect color. After I replaced the plug, my foreman would not idle correctly. Also seemed to be mis-firing and backfireing. I then put the old plug back in and it still did the same thing.

Cleaned all the jets in the carburator, etc. I'm out of Ideas. Can someone point me in the right direction, could it be my coil ?

 

[dirty4man]

sounds like you may have just gotten something wet when washing it. How did you wash it, pressure washer or just a hose? It may dry out after a couple of days, but this still doesn't solve your problem.

 

[Rednex]

Update !!!

1. Removed Carb, cleaned pilot jet and main jet.
2. Removed gas tank, drained and flushed.
3. Put quad back together, still the same.

Backfire after a full throttle shot...bad idle etc. My quad always backfired ever since I installed the first Supertrapp IDSX and played with the jets. I was told to never touch the Air/Fuel mixture screw on the bottom of the carb, obviously the person that told me this was wrong.

The guys on here that said a backfire is caused by a lean condition were right. read below.

The Supertrapp Mudslinger is a much more aggressive muffler. no packing involved, and it's more of a straight flow design, hence, more gas needed. Keep in mind I'm running in the 0 to 600 M sea level range. This means I need more gas again !!!!

Last but not least....I decided to close my A/F screw like the other guys on here said to do...then turned it out 2 1/2 turns....engine ran a bit better...turned it out another 1/2...so I'm 3 full turns out. No more backfire after a full throttle shot.....turned up the engine idle and things seem to be running better.

Thanks to all of the other posts on here and to Dirty4man for trying to help with this.

 

[dirty4man]

Rednex glad you where able to fix it yourself, I guess I overlooking the part about the newly installed mods.

 

[Rednex]

Was WRONG !!!

Well,, the quad ran ok that night...but it started acting up again the following day.

I gave up, then rebuilt the carb with a carb kit....tried all kinds of things, even ordered the honda oem manual for the 2004 450.

Come to find out, on the weekend, my 450 just stopped dead in the trail. Pulled the plug, no more spark....hmmm..

Pulled it home, (wasn't far thank god), left it there...yesterday I went out and decided to check my fuses, buddy of mine told me their's an ignition fuse....changed the ignition fuse..lots of spark...put the plug back in the bike...IT'S IDLING CORRECTLY !!!!! Can you figure that one out..the fuse was keeping enough current running to still fire the bike for almost a month. After changing the bad fuse because it was finally done....everythingis good...

Lesson learned here ? :

CHECK ALL FUSES BEFORE LOOKING TOO FAR, LOOK FOR CORROSION

thanks again for the help, but I figured I should share this.

 

[Rednex]

WHAT A NIGHTMARE !!!

Ok, this isn't funny anymore.

I think my Foreman is cursed.

Last night, I figured I'd go for a quick run, bring it back and wash it up good. Go about 2 Km's... wham.... no more spark, the ignition fuse is blown for the second time. Replace the fuse, go another 50 feet WHAM, fuse blown AGAIN.

This time I used the 30 amp fuse that was the only spare I had left, took my time feathered the throttle and got myself back to the house.

What would be causing this, I realize it's a short somewhere or a bare wire. I took apart all of the wireing under the seat, cleaned it all up, put di-electric grease EVERYWHERE.....even unplugged the rectifier/regulator and cleaned that up.

I did in the past month hook-up the bypass for the fan...But followed everyones directions on here, and I'm not new to wiring.

Are there any modules or control boxes that could be faulty which would cause my Ignition fuse to jump like that.

To add to that, my 2 bottom headlights are out, I think it might be due to water from last weekend, they could be burnt, but I find it funny the 2 of them would go at the same time. I have a feeling all of the fenders will be comming off the foreman this weekend.

Any help would be appreciated... calling out to Dirty4man and the honda mech that's on here.

 

[450DonDiego]

When you added the lower lights, did you put an inline fuse on that circuit? If you disconnect the power source to those lights and then replace your main fuse again and it doesn't go bad, then at least you know where your short circuit is.

On another note, are you sure you're getting enough fuel to your machine. With an aftermarket exhaust and the K&N filter, I was running a 142 main...granted I also installed an additional air intake, but that still sounds low to me. Could be part of the reason that it was backfiring. IMO

 

[Rednex]

Ok, first off it's not the main fuse.

it's the Ignition fuse. And for my lights, the power is comming right from the batterie, and there is an inline fuse, my ignition switch doesn't have to be on for the lights to work, the foreman can be off and still have the lights working.

As for the jets, I was thinking the same. How much above sea level are you ?

My plug is running a dark grey on the very tip, and the rest of it is almost a black color. so I'm figuring my mixture is almost good.

I should however put the bigger jet in, I believe I have a 142 from a Raptor that I already had in there. But again, the difference in sea level is what will decide alot on the jets.

I'm gonna try and find my short tonight, It has to be in the wireing. But my concern was that it could be one of my modules....again...since the fuse blowing issue, the bike has been running fine, it now idles great and lots of power...I can tell it's running rich because I can smell the excess fuel comming out the tail pipe...I don't even think it's burning it all. How many miles are you getting to a tank ?

 

[TechForeman]

Black on a plug isnt good.

 

[dirty4man]

Rednex have you checked to see what king of voltage you are getting on the battery with the bike running. it does sound like an electrical issue, just not sure what it is.

 

[450DonDiego]

Your black plug is probably only showing you that it is rich on the idle circuit. The only way to get a good plug chop for your main jet, is to put a new plug in and run that baby at full throttle and hit the kill switch. Then after you come to a stop, pull the plug and take a look at it. You probably just smelling gas as it's idling. A 142 main might be a little rich for you...it might end up being a 138 or so.

I'm less than 1000' above sea level

 

[Rednex]

Thanks for the responses..

Dirty4Man - Not yet, I have to take all the fenders off tomorrow night, pull all the connections, run some cleaner through them and fill them full of dilectric grease. I will however check that for you tomorrow night will get back to you.

450 DonDiego - I totally agree with how you check the plug, my mechanic showed me that,.......I think I'm going to order a 138 tomorrow, it costs next to nothing, maybe a 140 too because I'm running about 0 to 600 M in elevation.....I had a supertrapp on the foreman IDS2 or X forget now..but I blew it up...all the internals....it does backfire a bit on compression....but I now have their new mudslinger...what an awsome pipe...the sound comming out of that is awsome...couldn't say enough about it, ... great product...it still even looks good....

I think my headlights are out on the honda because of the video on my photobucket...that was 2 weekends ago in a beaver pond, on the way over I got a bit deep...I think water got in the headlights....

Anyways...thanks for the advice, I'm gonna work on it tomorrow night and update... I wanna get dirty this weekend...this sucks...

 

[fourdig]

You could just have a bad coil, that shorts out when it gets wet.

Take the coil off and seal the whole thing and try it again.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Rednex]

Will do , thanks for the advice, I would imagine if I re-wrapped it in some good electrical tape, and then covered it in dilectric grease it would do the trick.

 

[Rednex]

Problem Solved FINALLY, I hope...

So on Friday afternoon I removed the front rack / fenders. I took off the gas tank, etc. There are some connectors right below the tank near the front, and needless to say but they were brown. Very dirty spot, this area should be maintained atleast once a year from what I saw if your running in alot of mud and water.

I umplugged both of the control boxes in the front, cleaned them up also.

I believe the problem was on the right hand side of the frame, there are a series of 3 connectors there. Honda really makes 3 flavors of the 450 from what I gather in the manual. You have an american version, canadian version, and a Canadian Quebec version. The foreman sold in Quebec MUST come equipped with brake lights. Well near those sets of connectors there was a male (Gr/Y) and a female (Bl/Br) that were unplugged...sitting side by each underneith some electrical tape. The Electrical tape was a black burnt color... The male (Gr/Y) was the positive and the (Bl/Br) was the negative. There was some dirt build up in there and they were making contact. Crazy you may say I know, but it fixed my problem, that's where my short was.

Needless to say, I think from now one once a year I will unplugg all connectors and clean them out, and grease them.

Thanks to everyone again for their help.

 

[450DonDiego]

Glad you discover the issue! Now get out there and enjoy riding again!

 

[Rednex]

I don't know what to do anymore - IGNITION FUSE BLOWING

Ok...

So I ran the quad last year with a 30 amp fuse for the ignition, however, it should only be 10. 10 doesn't last.

SO.. I fixed some stuff with some new switches for the manual fan switch, and changed the switch for my fog lights.

I know that it's not the fog lights or the fan override (I hope). I/ve disconnected both switches, even disconnected them from the batterie.

Tonight I adjusted front brakes, had the bike lifted, washed the front brakes and also sprayed some water up under the front fender where all of the control boxes are etc. Finish up, start the bike, move 20 feet WHAM..burnt ignition fuse..ok..I'll just change the 30 amp fuse and keep going back to the shed....NO....the minute I turned the ignition switch to the on position, I blew about 5 10 amp fuses in a row, moved to 15 same diff, started playing with the control boxes, looking at the connections for corrosion etc etc...can't find ****.

Put the 30 amp fuse in, and it ran for 10 seconds, atleast put in gear to go to the shed moved a few feet and wham blown again.

I hope someone can help me with this, one fellow mentionned that it could be a bad coil. This could be, I didn't take the chance to rip it open and reseal it. I'm at a loss for words, my quad will now not move.

Tomorrow however, the bitch might be ok, but it's a chance I don't want to take going into the bush alone...should I look for another wire harness completely and swap it out ?

Is there anyone that is good at wire diagrams and tell me what to check, I have the repair manual but their isn't much in there. Any help would be much appreciated guys.

 

[Mongo70]

Man electrical problems can be a drag. So your Foreman is a TRX450FE? If so I traced the Black/Green wire from the ignition fuse, to the kill switch, where it turns into a Black/White wire, from there it goes to the CDI Unit. I think that module is mounted up by your fan module. There are 5 more wires coming out of the CDI Unit. Maybe you can pull the CDI Unit out and have it checked?

 

[Mongo70]

You also may want to check out your voltage regulator there is a yellow wire going from the regulator to the CDI unit.

 

[Mongo70]

The coil also also feeds into the CDI unit ( Black/Yellow wire) Did you ever get a new coil? That could be your trouble. The only other main ignition component feeding into the CDI is the Ignition Pulse Generator (Blue/Yellow wire) not sure how to test that.