I just shot a little graphite in mine. It seems to have worked.

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I've been lubricating and key-fucking the lock on my tank for the last hour!

Hahahah, best line ever

Ya me too. again. I used to dry lube with graphite but that was not doing it any more. Went out and got a good penetrating oil. Deep Creep. The stuff really DOES creep into cracks and crevices. I filled the keyhole a few times shooting it through the straw and blew it with a hair drier for a few minutes. It finally broke loose.

I ruined my key. Just a very slight twist to it from all the key fucking it was doing. I bent it back but not good enough for the ignition to accept. Would not go all the way in the ignition and I did not want to force it and ruin that. I'll be bringing the key tag into the stealer this week to get a new spare key. I am really just glad that this does not happen to the ignition because I would not squirt stuff in that one.

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There is assembled grease in that key switch, Rook. If it jams, don't think it will cut the ignition, I mean, it won't. Key fobby does not work as in some kind of motherboard inside it, you have some electrical worry. That key tumbler with the springs behind it, are filled with a little dab of grease. Spraying any lube in there only helps. Smooth friction free kind of fobbing.

Same kind of key tumbling in the gas cap; Only she gets kind of vapor sticky. Use a carb cleaner down in there to cut the varnish vapor drying. Cover the gas tank we be spraying carb cleaner in that tumbler. Whack some gunk-brand grease cutter in there so it foams up all over inside the tumblers and swing barrel. It just can't swing once you move the tumblers with the key's teeth.

Spray brake clean or contact cleaner so the gunk and varnish flow out of the cap. Finish off with your favorite lube that works for you.

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Thanks, Hub. For now, the Deep Creep seems to have done the trick. I will have to note the carb cleaner trick for possible future use.

I think it was the dreaded "white crust" that caused the lock to sieze. Noticed circle around the keyhole below the flip cover was quite crusted up more than I ever saw before. The tank was sitting empty in basement for 5 months. must have condensation up more being so empty. In any case, the lock was unopened for 5 months and the white crust was never broken once in the whole time.

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If you are talking the white clustizz fucus? Let me get my warning banner out...

Use is all about to get a douching. Use is need to think eye-drop size drops. Use as little as possible is the (((warning!))) I sit on the bike, I look straight down at the gas cap. I now make a triangle, begin at 12 0'clock, budda boom, budda bing, I found my real allen screws. Budda boom budda bing, my upside down allens are fake in that triangular illusion.

I use small amounts of vinegar as I watch that crustizz dissolve. As soon as I break that bonding effect, same kind of effect between the battery post is that crust connection, yeah, once you have the cap open, I'd wash the vinegar out under the sink or hose it off hard with a lot of water. Spray WD-40 and now water disperse the thing. Dry it off, 3-oil can it or whatever that 3-amigo oil is? Vacate that area with the electrics-amigoo'zing and have that as your crust layer is a film of oil -wink-wink.

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A UK buddy with a newish 14 had this problem within 2 months of getting his bike new. He took it to his supplying dealer who found a blocked/twisted vent hose so bad the tank wall had moved in almost ready to collapse so a new tank was fitted, foc of course. Ive read of the problem in Europe on several ER6f models.

I now make a triangle, begin at 12 0'clock, budda boom, budda bing, I found my real allen screws. Budda boom budda bing, my upside down allens are fake in that triangular illusion.

You lost me there Hub. I do like the idea of the vinegar and water dousch followed up with a squirt of WD.

That would entail removing the gas cap. Maybe I will mess with that this winter. I think the Deep Cree is doing what the WD is supposed to do. It's not a new cap anymore. I will just give a squirt of Deep Creep avery couple of months. It is open now. So problem solved.

Taffs, I think I heard about the tank implosion possibility. Seems to me i was advised to not close the cap if I tiook the tank off he bike for a long time. I don't see that this would make a difference because the tank breather should still work even if the tankis removed----unless the breather is blocked but then removed or not, it still wuold make no dif. I kno this, when I open an almost empty tank, I hear a rush of air suck in. Something must be causing a vacuum. One thing is for sure, if youopen your tank often you will relieve the vacuum and at the same time you work the lock and keep the crust at bay.

The best practice is to keep the tank as full as possible all the time so that internal rust cannot start too farbelow the filler cap where it would be hard to remove. Filling the tank when it is removed seems a bit overboard IMHO. I guess that would limit the condensation accumulation but also entail a lot of other risks that could cause a lot more serious damage.

If I can't keep this under control I may just go with a Vortex Fuel Tank plate and cap. About $50. I could get anodized blue and paint parts semigloss black. I always thought the gas cap had a very nice appearance on the 14 but I have been ooking at it for 4 years.

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Pop the gas cap up and out of the way. Look under the the outer ring that holds the allens in place. Now look at the 3 table legs as they stand on the tank's recess. Feel a fake allen screw head under the ring, meaning, there is no leg but 3 bolt down points. The other allens are dummy allen heads to give the whole effect of the ring inlay.

The explained part about sitting on the bike is to show you how to remove the whole gas cap assembly for servicing that white crust matter.

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oH, OK. Now I know what you mean....the silver ring. Thought you were talking about the lock under the cap. Thanks. That might just end up being a winter project. I guess I could shoot brake parts cleaner in there to dry out the oily Deep Creep then hit it with the vinegar. I'll copy that info into the maintenance log. I think the Deep Creep all by itself will prolly keep the lock turning free. You think?

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Rub deep creek between your fingers. Is it oily or does it turn dry and tack up dry? More a cleaner than a lube? A lube might be a natural cleaner, but something like a cutting agent like creek, might be more the white crust cutter like vinegar. And vinny is an acid, not a lube. Gotta read the properties of that creek stuff. If it's not 100% lube, forget it. Use a 3-in-1 oil kind of sewing oil thin so it runs like water.

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Is it oily or does it turn dry and tack up dry?

OK, now I see hwre you're comming from. I wiped plenty up off of my gas cap last night. It seemed to me that it was just like Wd-40. Slippery and seems like it doesn't evaporate much (You watch it on a flat surface and it really does creep around looking for a crack to run into). Also DC seems to effervesce a bit. Yep, now that ya mention it, seems like it is reacting. It's an acid. I think we will pick use some of that 3in1 oil in the lock in the future. Saw it at Lowe's.

The label says DC dissolves rust and cleans. It prolly works great for rusty bolts. The label also says itis the greatest thing in the world to prevent guns from seizing in cold weather which sounds like a lube.

i thought if you mixed graphite and lube like wd40 it made a cement like product after a while?

IDK I guess we will see what happens when you mix Deep Creep and graphite.

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new to site, i have a zx14 also with a sticking gas cap, my key is not the problem. when you get the cap open take the two philips screws out of the back side of the cap, have a rag covering the gas tank hole.when these screws are taken out the springs and the locks will fall out relieving the real culprit, this crap gas we are buying now is corroding the crap out of the 2 slider locks... i took mine apart and wet sanded back smooth,don't know what to lube with where it is inside the gas.. this is a ongoing problem that needs a new design ...brian

I guess do it before the lock sticks so bad the key bends.

or just get somethin like this. Half the weight of OEM.

* Last updated by: Rook on 5/28/2012 @ 6:36 PM *

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Mine is sticky, pushing down hard on the cap when turning the key seems to work well. I figured it was corrosion from the gasahol.

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That was my story. One of these times it will stick. Hope it's not at the pump when you are down to E. Bend the key just a tad and it no longer will turn the ignition.

Get some Seafoam DEEP CREEP and squirt a little in there if you don't feel like disassembling the gas cap lock. That worked for me after mine had frozen.

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