There are several threads about the gas cap not releasing the key or not turning the cylinder. The stock gas cap lasted three years on my Gen1 before I had so much trouble with it, I bent the key twisting.

My Gen2 gas cap still opens just fine after a year of ownership. The problem is it wont lock. To open the cap, I press the cap down firmly and turn the key to retract the teeth that lock under the filler neck. I turn the key to retract the teeth and press down firmly to close the gas cap but the key only turns halfway back to the locked position and it won't come out. My guess is the teeth aren't hooking under the edge of the filler neck. They're remaining partially retracted and not allowing the key cylinder to turn all the way back to the locked position and release the key. I have tried pressing the gas cap down more firmly but the cylinder still won't turn to the locked position. It turns back to the fully unlocked position without a problem. If I lift the gas cap, the key turns freely in both directions and the teeth retract and spring back to the locked position easily. What seems to allow the lock to work is turning the key to the unlocked position and then pressing the gas cap down and releasing the key in one quick motion. Do it slowly one step at a time and the key only turns halfway back to the locked position.

I noticed the key has some kind of oil on it when I remove it from the lock. Is that normal for a brand new gas cap lock? ...or did the dealership do that because they also had trouble with the lock?

Any advice appreciated but I'll be ordering a keyless gas cap as one of my first mods. I'm not waiting for this to become an emergency like it did with my Gen1.

I'll fiddle with the technique more soon but right now, I'm just glad I was able to get the gas cap shut. Never had this problem at the gas station. It happened today in the garage as I left the gas cap open for about thirty minutes while adding fuel stabilizer. Maybe that had something to do with it.

Rook:
I ran into a similar issue a few months ago, cap wouldn't close. Really kinda put me in panic mode for a minute, but with some fiddling with the spring-loaded locking mechanism I got it to lock, and I went straight home to investigate more.
What I figure is that fuel fumes are eroding the lubricant in the locking mechanism, so I now make a habit of putting a drop of 3-n-1 oil in the keyhole and on the springs from time to time it seems to rectify this. Its never happened since.

side-note - this issue, for me, was a life saver because I was fueling up to go bomb the local canyons, but when I went home to investigate the cap issue this I fount that the bolt for my clutch lever had worked itself almost entirely out (keeper nut was missing )!!! So yeah, that was a lucky catch.

Thanks DT. After reading your response, I decided to go out and try the lock. It opened and when I closed the cap and turned the lock, I felt a click about midway between the unlocked and locked positions. I see the keyless gas cap I like...or I might get another Lightech like I did for my Gen1.

I wasn't aware this was a known issue/common problem. Seems rudimentary to have this be so common a problem, one would think Kawasaki would have addressed in some manner.

I'd be curious on what you choose. I too have been kicking around the idea of a replacement cap just because I see the failure point here (the key) and don't want to be in a position where i'm nowhere near home and the damn key break in the cap stranding me in BFE.

You might want to have a look at my tutorial before you install the aftermarket gas cap. There's one little gasket people often drop down the gas tank when removing the OEM gas cap.

https://zx14ninjaforum.com/messages.cfm?threadid=56BD4327-D56B-84E2-17A9DD8B90C3822E

Rook, I quite honestly consult this forums history, and your *fantastic* tutorials, before I do anything to the monster that lives in my garage.

...and if theres a way to fucker something up, well, boy howdy Id be the one to do it.

i vote for a Vortex cap. simple. fast. looks sleek

Funny, but I traded in my 2008 for a 2013. Sales guy comes running out and says the gas cap is stock with the key in it. He said 300 bucks for a new key combo. I said I'll take the bike back, and you lose a sale for 300 bucks. Then bought a used tank, and bought a votex gas cap for it.

Yep, cap was on its way out. Only thing wrong with it when I traded it in.

I like the Vortex cap but I'm not sure it's real light in weight...although probably lighter than stock.

The stock gas cap is safest if the bike tips over with a full tank. It looks like the stock cap has a cone shaped rubber stopper that seals the filler neck. As far as I know, none of the aftermarket caps have a gasket on the lid. They have a gasket that seals the seam between the gas cap neck and the fuel tank neck but any gasoline that could make it to the cap would leak past the threads in the cap, especially a quarter turn mechanism. My bike was on its side for at east fifteen minutes after I crashed but I noticed no gasoline leakage or odor with the LighTech gas cap I have on the bike.

The LighTech gas cap simply vents to the ring shaped recess the cap assembly fits into. Any liquid gasoline would drip into the ring and down the water hole and/or gasoline overflow hole. Some aftermarket gas caps have a rubber tube from the vent in the gas cap. That tube is inserted to one of the drain holes in the ring. I have noticed gasoline drip from a drain tube under the bike when I parked it hot with the tank overfilled. That will also happen with the stock cap. If there are any aftermarket gas caps that aren't vented, I'd be surprised. Even the super cheap Chinese copy of the LighTech gas cap I bought from China had a vent. On the super cheap option, it will probably work fine but chances are they didn't spend the time milling it thoroughly to lighten it up as much as possible. That Chinese cheapy was aluminum but it weighed about the same as stock. The color was off too. I bought it from Ali-Express for about sixty bucks in about 2013.

The LighTech quick release cap I bought in 2012 was $150. It weighs 7.25 oz v the stocker at 14 oz. Aesthetically, it's very pleasing and although the nob on the cap sticks up 3/8" or so, never even knew it was there when I tucked down flat.

The LighTech full spin gas cap isn't as nice looking but it's perfectly flat like the OEM cap and the full spin would probably leak a lot slower if gas ever made it to the cap in a tipover. I haven't had the opportunity to weigh it yet but from the info on the ad, I'm guessing it's about 5.5 oz. I don't know if the threads on the full spin cap come loose. It is conventional threads with no kind of lock. LighTech has a race key to tighten the cap down very firmly but then you have to take that with you on the bike incase you need to fill up. The full spin is more of a race only part if you ask me.

BARGAIN ALERT!
Lightec gas caps are on clearance at OPP Racing right now. I just bought two of them, a quick release in indigo and a full spin cap in black, both $73. I also bought the racing key for the full spin at $38 (LOL half the price of a gas cap). They have a few quick releases for fifty seven bucks, not in my color so I left them for you! No idea why they have quick releases for the ZX-14 under two different products. They look exactly the same but one is $74 and the other is $57. Call OPP and ask if you’re into it. If you order a LighTech in blue, it will be a light sky blue as shown in the photo below. I'd suggest indigo for something closer to a conventional anodized blue color.

You need to set up an account to purchase from OPP. It’s like becoming a member of an exclusive club! I’ve bought from them three times back in 2012. No PayPal but they’re legit. You can trust them. I find the website a bit hard to navigate and the payment process is a little ambiguous but it's always worked for me with no errors in billing.

The greatest gas cap is made by Accossato, 4.58 oz. There is a five bolt that fits the 06-20 ZX-10. Looks like you could put a couple bolts in the two extra holes with a nut underneath if the other three matched up to the position and depth of the boltholes in the tank ring. Then you’d have to be concerned about the depth and position of the neck of the gas cap matching up with that of the neck of the fuel tank. I wouldn’t want to mess with that. Might look into it in the future.

The Driven Halo gas cap is my favorite for looks. The black with blue cap would go real nice on my 2024. It claims a 30% weight reduction so it’s probably only about a 4 oz less than stock.

One thing I’ll miss is the quiet whine this Gen2 makes after it’s parked hot. My Gen1 was kind of loud and weird like a tea kettle but I kind of like the soft noise this one makes. …however, I can’t live with a gas cap that wont lock or unlock. Yeah, kind of strange that Kaw didn’t address that on the Gen2.

So that's about everything I know about aftermarket gas caps. Here's my LighTech on the Gen1.

* Last updated by: Rook on 8/29/2025 @ 11:00 AM *

I bought my Bike new in Nov 2012. It had been sitting on the showroom floor since May. I wanted a Blue Bike and the last Blue Bike in the Country was in my hometown. The first tank of Gas I bent the ignition key in half! I gently straightened it and drove straight home for the other Key. I lubed the lock. I got another Key from a locksmith. It is shorter but it is wider and stronger. Too short for the ignition tumbler. I use it for the seat lock which is stiff, too.
My procedure is= the push down on the cap and turn the Key. The same when I lock it, twist-shut-turn the Key. I keep the lock lubed. It has not failed in 12 yrs.

* Last updated by: doubleD on 9/2/2025 @ 11:48 AM *