seat will not open

had the seat up, pushed it down untill I heard the latch shut. sat on the seat, then when I turn the key the lock cylinder feels the same as before only the seat doesnt come unlatched :huh: . Does anyone have some pointers on this subject? any help would be greatly appreciated.

VdubbPeach wrote: had the seat up, pushed it down untill I heard the latch shut. sat on the seat, then when I turn the key the lock cylinder feels the same as before only the seat doesnt come unlatched :huh: . Does anyone have some pointers on this subject? any help would be greatly appreciated.

Get off the seat and try it.

Take a hair dryer on a "high" setting, and heat up the lock, and then try the key, some lubrication may have solidified,jamming the mechanism. Use the same process if the gas cap lock sticks.

Push down on the seat, turn the key, then lift. The seat may have pressure on the mechanism keeping it from working freely. Just a thought.

Les Holt

Am thinking the bike at hand is a 1978 KZ650SR.

Including information about bike year and model often elicits better responses. And it's easy to put the information in your signature where it will automatically appear in posted messages. When done, the signature information appears in all posts, past and future. And may be changed as often as desired.



Good Fortune!

I just lubed the cylinder and latch about 6 open/ cycles before it got jammed.
78 kz650sr is the bike in question, thanks.

VdubbPeach wrote: had the seat up, pushed it down untill I heard the latch shut. sat on the seat, then when I turn the key the lock cylinder feels the same as before only the seat doesnt come unlatched :huh: . Does anyone have some pointers on this subject? any help would be greatly appreciated.

One of two things is happening. The seat-side of the latch may be out of adjustment and it's putting constant upwards pressure on the latch, or something is causing the seat to not go down all the way. You didn't leave a rag or anything under the seat, right? That'd take up the space between the rubber stops and the frame, causing this.

If it were, me, I'd kneel down on that side of the bike, turn and hold the key and simultaneously give the seat some hard downward hits with your hand; that might jar it open.

If that fails and it simply won't open, then probably the innards of the switch broke and it's not actuating the release.

It should look like this, right?



If you have to destroy the switch, I'd try this: take a pipe just bigger than the diameter of the lock body and gently start forcing downwards, bending the tabs that the lock attaches with. They're a lot weaker than the frame at that point. The way that switch latches, you should be able to pull the upper part of that latch away from the latch hook on the seat-side. From the drawing, that little "U" shaped piece is shorter on the top than the bottom which leads me to suggest this method. Worst case scenario, the lock will break off and problem (partially) solved until you get a replacement lock.

I thought about advising to drill it out, but I'd try this way first. That way, when you get a replacement, you should be able to take the lock completely out of your existing unit and put it in the replacement, so you can still use the same key.