Thomas Steele
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Posts posted by Thomas Steele
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I want to thank everyone for all the suggestions and I want to officially apologize for anyone I annoyed by crossposting. As it turns out, I received different responses on each of the subforums, so it really did help me.
Here is what I finally did to resolve the problem, as well as all the things that did not resolve the problem.
1) I greased the latch release lock and key. This did nothing.
2) I pushed, pounded, and abused the seat while holding the lock open - with the kind assistance of the lovely wife. Nothing.
3) Same as above while wiggling and prying the seat. Nope.
4) I disassembled the lock mechanism and pulled on the cable with pliers to release the latch. This had the same result as above.
5) I removed the rear fender assembly to access the latch mechanism but was unable to budge the latch.
6) I swore and kicked at the bike, but I really had little hope in this one working.
7) Finally, I pried up the seat enough to see, with the aid of a flashlight and my son's strong muscles, the latch mechanism. It sits high in the rear and you can see the cable end from peering through the lefthand side. I took a long screwdriver and pushed the cable end toward the latcha dn was able to free the latch. This was the solution that finally worked.
After gaining access, I switched the latch return spring with the fast-idle return spring (which was suggested many times here) and added a zip tie to the end of the cable between the cable end cap and the latch mechanism. This takes up the slack in the cable. My guess is that the cable had worked its way loose out the the forked end of the latch mechanism, so all I was doing with the key was moving the cable in the housing. The cable must have been loose (I can't verify that because I may have pushed it loose with the screwdriver). I also closed up the forks a little so the cable could not work itself loose again.
Once again, thank you for all the suggestions and help and forgive me for the crosspost.
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Please don't ever cross-post in several subforums. It's very annoying and you are not likely to receive more or better answers. Good luck with the seat though
Didn't mean to annoy you, which is why I apologized at the beginning. I'm not sure who else was annoyed or why it was annoying, but I needed an answer and I got different answers on different subforums. Although that's not an excuse, it actually helped me solve the problem.
Regardless, I will not cross-post again and I do not advocate it. But I also realize different people inhabit different subforums.
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Not to question intelligence or suggest the obvioius, but have you tried pressing down on the seat while turning the key? There may be pressure on the mechanism.
Best of luck to you.
Fair question. Answer is: Tried it. Also tried smacking seat while turning key, etc. There were some other suggestions in the other forums that I will also try.
Thanks for the ideas.
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where the key goes in, there a cable comes out. And between outer cable and lock put something, so the outer side gets longer, then the lock will open more then normal. Why do need to open it to drive the bike anyway? If you need to change the battery, put the + from charger on the top connection on the starter engine, where the fat cable is attached.
I see in other post that you can't get it working with a tricle changer. First measure battery voltage, if it is under 9 volts I don't think you get the battery back to life again. For opening up from top, slide something between seat and tail from the side. I've done it before.
Thanks. I'll try this. If my battery is under 9 volts, obviously I need to change it or get it fixed. That's one reason why I'm trying to get the seat off. I could jump start it using the starter motor method.
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This is how I fixed mine,later on I realized I was trying to unlock it with the helmet lock! Duh!
There is a belief here that the factory switched the fast idle spring and the seat release spring.Many people here have flipped them and have had no problems since.
Here;s some links that should help,
http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?...p;hl=seat+latch
http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?...p;hl=seat+latch
Thanks. I will certainly do the spring swap as soon as I figure out how to get the seat off. It will fix two of the most frustrating tings on my bike at once. I've made no mods so far on my bike. Maybe it's time to start. I've only had it 4 years/40K miles (or so: frankly, the speedo died over three years ago at 11,300!).
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i would try a couple of things, make sure you spray some WD40 or better yet, some Tri-Flow in the lock mechanism to make sure it is turning all the way. Then when you have the lock turned (say "honey, you got a second?", give the top of the seat a good smack from top. It just may pop up. If you get it off, make sure you check the pin end of the latch to see there are no burrs, and you may even grease the inside of the latch. Good Luck.
Dang! Didn't work. I put a little WD-40. I also tried a little Mobile-1 on the key. My hands are stinging from smacking the seat every which way. I've also tried prying the seat with a large screwdriver, though too much leverage is going to crack the plastic. Still nothing. And still open to ideas....Thanks!
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My bike has a similar behavior. The seat isn't stuck, but it doesn't come off easily.
What I do is engage (disengage?) the lock...ok, I turn the key... then push forward pretty strongly while lifting the back of the seat. Basically, I grip it right underneath the cowl. If it is really sticky, I give the cowl a glancing forward blow with the palm of my hand. Not enough to damage anything, just to jar it a bit.
Hope that helps.
Jason
I tried smacking it. I tried prying it - though without breaking any of the plastic. Still not working....
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Thomas,
Do you know about the fast idle/seat spring swap?
Got me on that one. I've never heard of it.
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Hey, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this and I admit it's been a long time since I've posted anything (sorry...), but I have a problem and I know this is the group to help me.
In the cold weather we've been having and all the snow and ice, I had to park the beast ('03 V11 LeMans) for a couple weeks. When I went to restart the battery was too low and I couldn't start it. I put it on the trickle charger and a couple days later, no better. Now I need to take the battery out so I can have it looked at. Problem is, I can get the bloody seat off. This is an old problem that I have ignored for about 18 months. I turn the key and can hear the mechanism move but the seat will not budge. I have no idea what is blocking it and I cannot get it to come off.
Any suggestions?? I'm tired of having my wife drive me the 20 miles to the ferry each day to get to work (and I really don't want to take the bus).
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Hey, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this (I also posted to the technical forum) and I admit it's been a long time since I've posted anything (sorry...), but I have a problem and I know this is the group to help me.
In the cold weather we've been having and all the snow and ice, I had to park the beast ('03 V11 LeMans) for a couple weeks. When I went to restart the battery was too low and I couldn't start it. I put it on the trickle charger and a couple days later, no better. Now I need to take the battery out so I can have it looked at. Problem is, I can get the bloody seat off. This is an old problem that I have ignored for about 18 months. I turn the key and can hear the mechanism move but the seat will not budge. I have no idea what is blocking it and I cannot get it to come off.
Any suggestions?? I'm tired of having my wife drive me the 20 miles to the ferry each day to get to work (and I really don't want to take the bus).
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Hey, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this and I admit it's been a long time since I've posted anything (sorry...), but I have a problem and I know this is the group to help me.
In the cold weather we've been having and all the snow and ice, I had to park the beast ('03 V11 LeMans) for a couple weeks. When I went to restart the battery was too low and I couldn't start it. I put it on the trickle charger and a couple days later, no better. Now I need to take the battery out so I can have it looked at. Problem is, I can get the bloody seat off. This is an old problem that I have ignored for about 18 months. I turn the key and can hear the mechanism move but the seat will not budge. I have no idea what is blocking it and I cannot get it to come off.
Any suggestions?? I'm tired of having my wife drive me the 20 miles to the ferry each day to get to work (and I really don't want to take the bus).
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Thomas Steele
Stuck Seat
in Technical Topics
Posted
I want to thank everyone for all the suggestions and I want to officially apologize for anyone I annoyed by crossposting. As it turns out, I received different responses on each of the subforums, so it really did help me.
Here is what I finally did to resolve the problem, as well as all the things that did not resolve the problem.
1) I greased the latch release lock and key. This did nothing.
2) I pushed, pounded, and abused the seat while holding the lock open - with the kind assistance of the lovely wife. Nothing.
3) Same as above while wiggling and prying the seat. Nope.
4) I disassembled the lock mechanism and pulled on the cable with pliers to release the latch. This had the same result as above.
5) I removed the rear fender assembly to access the latch mechanism but was unable to budge the latch.
6) I swore and kicked at the bike, but I really had little hope in this one working.
7) Finally, I pried up the seat enough to see, with the aid of a flashlight and my son's strong muscles, the latch mechanism. It sits high in the rear and you can see the cable end from peering through the lefthand side. I took a long screwdriver and pushed the cable end toward the latcha dn was able to free the latch. This was the solution that finally worked.
After gaining access, I switched the latch return spring with the fast-idle return spring (which was suggested many times here) and added a zip tie to the end of the cable between the cable end cap and the latch mechanism. This takes up the slack in the cable. My guess is that the cable had worked its way loose out the the forked end of the latch mechanism, so all I was doing with the key was moving the cable in the housing. The cable must have been loose (I can't verify that because I may have pushed it loose with the screwdriver). I also closed up the forks a little so the cable could not work itself loose again.
Once again, thank you for all the suggestions and help and forgive me for the crosspost.