Problems with locking keyless fuel cap

Fred
There is a known issue with a number of petrol caps on the 1250. A good friend of mine had this on his brand new 1250 whilst in Germany.

He went to 1 dealer who stated it was a known issue but did not have a replacement in stock. They gave him a Torx tool to loosen bottom bolt (his would not open otherwise).

He visited a second dealer in the Black Forest and they changed it over straight away with one they had in stock. No issues since. I believe it is something to do with a sticky/faulty piston in the central locking mechanism.

Have a word with a dealer.
 
JerseyNeil said:
Fred
There is a known issue with a number of petrol caps on the 1250. A good friend of mine had this on his brand new 1250 whilst in Germany.

He went to 1 dealer who stated it was a known issue but did not have a replacement in stock. They gave him a Torx tool to loosen bottom bolt (his would not open otherwise).

He visited a second dealer in the Black Forest and they changed it over straight away with one they had in stock. No issues since. I believe it is something to do with a sticky/faulty piston in the central locking mechanism.

Have a word with a dealer.
Click to expand...

Neil was the black forest dealer in Freiburg, if so I can pop down and get the full reason.
 
I don't know which dealer it was. I wasn't there. But I'm sure if you speak to your local dealer they will be able to confirm that there is an issue with a batch of filler caps.
 
JerseyNeil said:
Fred
There is a known issue with a number of petrol caps on the 1250. A good friend of mine had this on his brand new 1250 whilst in Germany.

He went to 1 dealer who stated it was a known issue but did not have a replacement in stock. They gave him a Torx tool to loosen bottom bolt (his would not open otherwise).

He visited a second dealer in the Black Forest and they changed it over straight away with one they had in stock. No issues since. I believe it is something to do with a sticky/faulty piston in the central locking mechanism.

Have a word with a dealer.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Neil - very useful to know when I speak to my dealer.

Fred
 
Had another play with this today, and the tightness of the bolts seems to have a small influence on how hard it is to open versus how hard it is to close, but doesn't stop it doing either, at least not in our current cool weather.

I think I now understand the mechanism better. The silver plunger at the front inside the filler neck has a recess for a matching rectangular block on the locking tab and I believe what happens when it is locked is that the plunger is prevented from moving out towards the filler opening, and this in turn stops movement of this block which then prevents the locking tab from fully rotating and lifting, so stops the cap opening. The recess in the silver plunger also has a little mini plunger in it which I suspect operates a microswitch so that the system knows when the block is seated in the recess, which will only be true when the cap is fully closed.

Quite a clever system - when it works! Mine is working OK now, I think, but I possibly the problems I had would have been due to the silver plunger bit not releasing fully from the locked position, so getting in the way when trying to close the cap. This was possibly due to it being slightly too tight a fit anyway and then expanding when hot sufficiently to fail to slide out when released. I think this is confirmed by the fact that I eventually found that I could close the cap by manually pulling the plunger further out with my fingernail, though it only moved a tiny amount.

However it is puzzling why opening was not a problem. Possibly because when opening the plunger it has been unlocked so the rotation of the tab would force it out enough to release the cap, but the mystery is why it would then subsequently block it from closing. It seems like something is causing it to move back towards the locked position just enough to stop it closing.
 
TonyZZR said:
Do you have a tankbag adapter ring on the filler cap surround? Its easy to over torque the bolts which stops the cap from opening cleanly....
Click to expand...

Agree ... I torqued bolts to correct nm but had to back off a little to get cap work ?? Have no idea why...
 
Bikerboy108 said:
Agree ... I torqued bolts to correct nm but had to back off a little to get cap work ?? Have no idea why...
Click to expand...

Think torque meters are basically to get you as close as possible without snapping off the bolt to the correct torque, but there would certainly be a tad of difference in the different brands, even the most expensive one,s. :beerjug:
 
JerseyNeil said:
I don't know which dealer it was. I wasn't there. But I'm sure if you speak to your local dealer they will be able to confirm that there is an issue with a batch of filler caps.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't bother asking my dealer's service desk anything remotely technical. They give the impression of being completely clueless and not really wanting to bother finding out. Perhaps it's not an impression...
 
ChazzyB said:
I wouldn't bother asking my dealer's service desk anything remotely technical. They give the impression of being completely clueless and not really wanting to bother finding out. Perhaps it's not an impression...
Click to expand...

No joy from my dealer, though they were sympathetic. Because the problem is intermittent and is not manifesting at the moment (probably heat related) they said an investigation would not lead to it being replaced unless they could replicate the problem, or if I could video it happening using my phone. They did look on their system to see if there were any notes about the part, but there are none, and only 3 in stock in the UK, so unlikely to be a known issue or stocks would be higher. I also asked about the problem with clutch bite point shifting while riding on a hot day in the mountains - to the point that at times there was a delay between fully releasing the lever and the clutch engaging after a downshift. Led to some entertaining moments with the bike momentarily freewheeling and picking up speed into downhill hairpins. This also got the revs rising as I got back on the gas after upshifts when the clutch did not fully engage immediately. Again it's not happening at the moment, so nothing they can do.
 
I've had a problem with fuel caps on virtually all my bikes sticking at one point or another, I suspect it might have something to do with it being on top of 20 litres of low flashpoint solvent. A wee lube now and then and they stay trouble free for me.
 
Wobbly65 said:
I've had a problem with fuel caps on virtually all my bikes sticking at one point or another, I suspect it might have something to do with it being on top of 20 litres of low flashpoint solvent. A wee lube now and then and they stay trouble free for me.
Click to expand...
Good point. I had wondered whether to squirt a little WD40 into the mechanism.
 
OK, but it should dissolve any sticky deposits which might be affecting the operation of the thing. I can always put some lube in afterwards.
 
fred_jb said:
OK, but it should dissolve any sticky deposits which might be affecting the operation of the thing. I can always put some lube in afterwards.
Click to expand...

Well in all fairness Fred, they will not fix it, so try whatever you think might fix it, and if it fecks up, then take it to them, but forget about telling them you lubed it. ;)
 
The font of ALL knowledge. My mate had this problem. He bought a year old 1250 GSA which already had a tank bag ring. He had 62 miles tank range when he knocked on my door.

We noticed that the fuel filler cap was closed but not flush. A firm press then the fuel filler opened perfectly. We tried closing the fuel filler cap a few times and either pressed it firmly so it was properly closed or closed it with the release open. It worked every time.

Many thanks for the advice.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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