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Seized rear seat lock


Wintersdark

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So, the lock under the seat that releases the rear seat is seized.  The tumblers appear to not move at all, and I can only get the key about 3/4 of the way in.  There's nothing visible inside blocking things.

 

I've soaked it in WD40, penetrating lubricant, vinegar, CLR, de-icer; I've poked and scraped with a bit of wire, I've blown it out with compressed air.  No luck.

 

On the 2018, the main seat cannot be removed without removing the rear seat, as the screws are (unlike previous models, where you could just peel back the back of the seat) underneath the rigid body of the rear seat.  

 

This means I'm unable to remove my seat, so I can't get at my battery etc, and I desperately need to get in there.  Any ideas?  

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The key does not go in all the way so I think you are okay there.  I suspect there is something pushing the back of the seat up.  Like @minkster says, push down on the back of the seat while unlocking it. 

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Something similar happened to me, the key would hardly turn, felt like it would snap if I twisted it harder.  I was at Yamaha Champ School when it happened.  I had the YCRS mechanic look at it and could not open it either.   We pushed down, backward,  forward,  and twisted,  no go. Stayed like that for 2 days.  When I got home, I tried it and it popped right off first try . It has worked fine ever since. Try riding around on some bumpy roads, see it it loosens itself out. 

 

Ed 

"Do not let this bad example influence you, follow only what is good" 

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More than likly the tool kit, wire or other is lodged against or near the Hook preventing it from moving.

“Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.” --Thomas Jefferson quoting Cesare Beccaria

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Locks themselves can benefit from powdered scrapings of pencil lead inserted with the key. But with everything else inside there it is prob too late for that.  Anyway, looks like a blockage (as above).

Just do it! 

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I would take the key to a key maker and tell them what is going on. I've had keys do that (not go all the way in or be troublesome going in) and so I asked them to smooth the edges a bit because they appeared too sharp and angular. I did that recently with some new mail box keys that didn't want to go all the way in. It worked like a charm, apparently just one 'too sharp' of an edge can cause problems. GL! Let us know if that was the problem.

Beemer

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok, it was a crazy christmas that saw me finding and fixing the problem.

 

What had happened is salt had built up inside the lock, and seized all the pins.  I was unable to get the key into the lock because the pins wouldn't move up and down to let it in.  

 

Pushing on the rear seat didn't help, because I was unable to fully insert the key and the tumblers couldn't move to the unlock position - no amount of twisting was going to help that short of breaking the key or lock.  

 

So, as you all likely know, the key turns a lever which pulls a cable, releasing the rear seat.  So how I got the seat off was surprisingly simple:  I removed the two mounting screws for the lock, stuck the key in as far as I could, and simply turned the whole lock mechanism.  This pulled the cord, releasing the lock, and allowing to me get it all apart.

 

Once out of the bike, it was simple to remove the two screws in the rear of the lock and pull the assembly out.  I left it to soak overnight in vinegar, which dissolved the salt.  Stuffed the thing full of grease and worked the mechanism around as much as possible, then wiped out as much excess grease as possible.  This left a good coating throughout the lock, and it works fine now.  

 

Either today or tomorrow, it gets re-installed in the bike.  In the mean time, I just tied a wire to the end of the pull cable, and left it hanging out through the lock hole so I could remove the rear seat again to reinstall.  

 

It's sure a pain in the ass to get that battery out, though; it's REALLY tight in there.

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👍 Congrats on solving the issue @Wintersdark.

 

I'm still not understanding how the salt got in there in the first place. Do you live near the ocean or do you ride a lot on salted roads in the winter time.

DewMan
 
Just shut up and ride.

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I'm with DewMan on that one, why so much salt in there? 

I know it's already done with the grease but the next time you go to lube that lock I recommend something that doesn't gunk up and get sticky like how grease can when it gets old. I've been using the WD-40 White Lithium which worked well but I've switched over to the Dupont Teflon in hopes that it's drier and attracts less. It looks like you're a happy man for now so that's good. Stay frosty!

Beemer

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9 hours ago, DewMan said:

👍 Congrats on solving the issue @Wintersdark.

 

I'm still not understanding how the salt got in there in the first place. Do you live near the ocean or do you ride a lot on salted roads in the winter time.

I live in Calgary, Alberta, and I ride every day, year round.  I wash the bike regularly, but I guess it was just accumulating in there and of course the inner surfaces of the lock are two different types of metal (brass and aluminum) which was totally unlubricated initially.  

 

 

The problem is that lock is open, kind of low on the bike, tucked under stuff.  The other locks like the ignition have that little shutter over them, but this is just an open keyhole.  So I guess it just built up, and while I wash the bike off regularly, it's not like I washed out a keyhole.  I'm just going to add a rinse and lube process there for the future, do that when I clean and lube the chain.

 

 

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Just by chance are you washing your bike from softwater, still do not understand the salt as you are land locked per say.  I assume then that they spread salt to de-Ice on roads?  or you ride on a salt flat, or your use salt as soap or someone put salt in your lock because they dont like you?
have you

Pissed off or have pissed off ex girlfiends, boyfreinds, changling freinds?

Does your mother love you?
 

“Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.” --Thomas Jefferson quoting Cesare Beccaria

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Get back in there and neutralize that vinegar fast. Hot water with baking soda will do the trick. The acid of the vinegar will continue to to way away at anything until it's neutralized, and those tumblers have tiny leafs in them that may not last long. Even with the grease packed in there the vinegar acid will still continue to work.  In the future, plain water will melt salt easily. 

 

Good job catching this. I think I'll go check mine out, too. It's been feeling a little less new lately. 

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Yeah, a plug is a good idea.  Wish my 3D printer was working, that's a pretty perfect role for it.  

 

As to salt: Our roads are doused with warmish sodium chloride, as a liquid, to de-ice.  There's sand, too, but it doesn't really play into things.  It's needed, because the intense sun tends to melt snow and ice quickly during the day, despite it still being below freezing.  At night, all that melt would turn the roads to ice.  

 

The problem is that because the sodium chloride is liquid, it splashes around.  The water base evaporates quickly, leaving a crust of salt on whatever it was splashed on.   I always wash the bike as soon as possible (that is, once it's warm enough that it's possible to wash it) afterwards, but it had never occurred to me to get right into that lock.  

 

@shinyribs Water didn't melt it.  That was my first attempt.  Nor did penetrating lube, wd40, or de-icer.  I even tried with hot water injected into the lock via a syringe.  I was just trying all sorts of things trying to get the lock to work before tearing everything apart to get the cylinder out.  It's not your normal road salt.  You can wash it off, but it takes a lot of water to do it, and I couldn't really get enough flushing through the lock to get all the salt out of the springs/tumblers inside the lock.  It was seriously a solid mass of salt/corrosion and lock.  

 

I rinsed it very thoroughly after it's bath, then greased it up.  That'll have to do, as it's all back in the bike again and I'm really not enormously interested in tearing it all apart again.  

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