A cure for stuck RGS fuel cap.

1200ts

1200ts

Hero member
Location
USA - Riverside CA
The RGS decided again on Sunday to lock up the fuel cap . No amount of foul language would make the key turn. It was lubricated a couple of hundred miles previously but the fuel washes the oil out. This is not the first time this has happened and I see from other posts I am not the only one to have this happen. Luckily I was able to purchase some WD40 and able to open the cap or I did not have enough fuel to get back home!

So after a lot of searching I have located a fuel resistant grease which I am going to try. It is designed for metal fuel valves on aircraft but I see it is popular with old cars as it stops many types of fuel leaks. Besides a lubricant it is also a sealant.

The disassembled fuel cap parts below.



 

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Sooooo glad you posted this, totally forgot that I needed to sort my fuel cap out with the same problem! Need to do it before this weekend's run!
 
drikko said:
Sooooo glad you posted this, totally forgot that I needed to sort my fuel cap out with the same problem! Need to do it before this weekend's run!
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Ditto.  They are right little f*****s when they do this.  Bloody cheap and nasty FIAT pos ... (cuss).

Touch wood, mine has behaved itself for the last few years.  But I don't trust it, not one inch ...  Better off to get one of those 'One Size Fits All'  plastic things that  they used to (do they still ?) sell in gas stations  :P
 
1200ts said:
The RGS decided again on Sunday to lock up the fuel cap . No amount of foul language would make the key turn. It was lubricated a couple of hundred miles previously but the fuel washes the oil out. This is not the first time this has happened and I see from other posts I am not the only one to have this happen. Luckily I was able to purchase some WD40 and able to open the cap or I did not have enough fuel to get back home!

So after a lot of searching I have located a fuel resistant grease which I am going to try. It is designed for metal fuel valves on aircraft but I see it is popular with old cars as it stops many types of fuel leaks. Besides a lubricant it is also a sealant.

The disassembled fuel cap parts below.
Click to expand...

Got mine working quite well but would like to pull it apart and clean out sometime, but I couldn't see how it comes apart, any clues?
 
I can verify the EZ Turn grease is not affected by fuel and everything works OK.  This is the best the fuel cap has ever worked in the 20 years I have owned the bike. The fuel cap needs to come apart in order to apply the grease.

Drikko, to take the cap apart, the pin that goes through the red plastic end and through the lock (see picture in first post) needs to be removed. Once that is done it all comes apart. Leave the key in the lock when removing it from the cap or the lock pins will fall out!

If anyone else is interested in the grease:

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/ezturnlube.php

Bruce
 
Do us fellow riders a favour and carry a spair fuel cap key, spent a very long  while once on a ride while a cap got fiddled with because the key was left at home. No names, no hints
 
The Sock said:
For those in Europe (inc. Little England for the next six months):
https://www.aircraftspruce.eu/engine-parts/lubricants/ez-turn-lubricant.html
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Reckon you're 'Loadsamoney' , not 'Sock'    :D
?40 for a tube of grease  :o
 
Rob said:
Reckon you're 'Loadsamoney' , not 'Sock'    :D
?40 for a tube of grease  :o
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I don't ride an RGS.
I'm quite happy with a regular fuel cap on a regular fuel tank.

On being told by her father, an old friend, that I had owned my bike for more than forty years, she replied "Couldn't he afford a new one?"
 
I just leave the key in the lock and have tied it onto the hinge with a bit of string.  When it's unlocked the cap just hangs on the string while you are filling.  We don't have a fuel theft problem here....
 
drikko said:
I just leave the key in the lock and have tied it onto the hinge with a bit of string.  When it's unlocked the cap just hangs on the string while you are filling.  We don't have a fuel theft problem here....
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I'll be tempting fate, for sure, but I can smugly say that I've never had a problem with the fuel cap on my RGS. I haven't even lubed it or needed to disassemble it, just regular use for adding the go-go juice :D
Perhaps that's the issue, as with many things - you gotta use 'em ;) :D However, I like Drikko's idea, so may well leave the key in the 'ole and secure it with wire / cable tie / string :)
 
Is it anywhere? Never happened to me or anyone I know.

Anyway, back to the subject. Does fuel slosh up the filler? (I've never had an RGS).  I was wondering if graphite or moly powder might help....
 
a14rgs said:
I'll be tempting fate, for sure, but I can smugly say that I've never had a problem with the fuel cap on my RGS. I haven't even lubed it or needed to disassemble it, just regular use for adding the go-go juice :D
Perhaps that's the issue, as with many things - you gotta use 'em ;) :D However, I like Drikko's idea, so may well leave the key in the 'ole and secure it with wire / cable tie / string :)
Click to expand...
I guess I'm in the minority as well; the only problem I ever had was the cap not sealing properly, but has always locked/unlocked without issue.
 
a14rgs said:
<snip> I can smugly say that I've never had a problem with the fuel cap on my RGS. I haven't even lubed it or needed to disassemble it, just regular use for adding the go-go juice :D
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More like you just got lucky, Alan, and got the only working one that came off the assembly line that day ... :D

(Or maybe the decent ones went off to FIAT and Laverda got delivered all the slightly dodgy ones.  I wonder who made them?)
 
Sir Sidney Ruffdiamond said:
Drikko I would raise your string to a cable tie ! Riccardo Oro told me to do that ! And I guess he would know
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Cable tie huh, luxury, when we were young we couldn't afford cable ties....
 
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