My son has a 250 Ninja (2005) that he has not ridden in over two years and he wants to bring it back to life. The lock for the fuel cap will not work. It will turn but not unlock the cap. The ignition lock is really quirky now but you can turn it on after jiggling the key a bit. The seat lock seems to work well. Any suggestions on how to remedy this problem? I'm hesitant to start spraying chemicals into the key holes without without some advice.

FYI, the bike has been garaged since he owned it five years ago.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

I've gotten rusted/froze locks to start working by spraying PB Blaster into the mechanisms. Use the wand attachment to get it into the tumbler area. May have to re-apply daily over several days to make progress.

PB Blaster Dry Lube has always worked for me on stubborn locks.

WD-40 is what I use. After that, you might try the Dremel.

H&K-Guy

Use Tri-Flow. The locksmiths at the hardware store I used to work at used it to free up frozen and corroded locks. It won't gum up the works like WD-40. I've also had good luck making a rusted lock butter smooth with silicone spray lube.

Kroil

The problem with spray is the backspatter. It will go everywhere and the paint could be affected. Consider coating the key with lube and inserting it.

Tri-Flow is what they used for that at the locksmith shop where my old pal worked, when we were in school.

I have never figured out how to “gum up” the many locks I’ve sprayed full of WD-40; just bad luck, I suppose.

For those who have had better luck freezing up their sledgehammers or tank tracks with the stuff or are afraid that a stray drop falling on their Glock will turn it into a paperweight, though, Mil-Comm, the TW-25B company, makes a “Lock Saver” aerosol. It seems to be a little lighter than WD-40, but seems to work about as well.

quote:

Originally posted by houndawg:
Use Tri-Flow. The locksmiths at the hardware store I used to work at used it to free up frozen and corroded locks. It won't gum up the works like WD-40. I've also had good luck making a rusted lock butter smooth with silicone spray lube.

Gonna give that a shot. I'm worried about gumming the locks up.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I am glad I'm a member of this forum, tons and tons of knowledge here!

quote:

Gonna give that a shot. I'm worried about gumming the locks up.

I'm a "locksmith" of sorts, and use Triflow for all sorts of things. It's a little pricey and sometimes difficult to find.

The Ace hardware stores around here always seem to have it.

I use G96 for all of these problems. Good stuff. Better than WD. Can often find it at a gun shop or online.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I have never figured out how to “gum up” the many locks I’ve sprayed full of WD-40; just bad luck, I suppose.

For those who have had better luck freezing up their sledgehammers or tank tracks with the stuff or are afraid that a stray drop falling on their Glock will turn it into a paperweight, though, Mil-Comm, the TW-25B company, makes a “Lock Saver” aerosol. It seems to be a little lighter than WD-40, but seems to work about as well.

Thread drift: I once bought 3 Winchester 94 carbines from an old man who had sprayed them down thoroughly with WD40 before storing them for years in his closet, in gun cases. They were completely inoperable, solidly stuck with something like varnish that apparently resulted from being coated with WD40. At least they hadn’t rusted. It took a lot of solvent and effort to free them up.

Different climates creat different issues when lubing locks.
I was always taught to use only dry graphite on locks.
Having grown up in west Texas where dirt was plentiful. Wd40 or any wet lube would attract dirt and while your short term issues were solved with wd40 the long term your results were doomed to fail with the attraction of dirt resulting in lock failure.

Did the Tri-Flow and it still didn't fix the tank lock. It did fix the ignition lock. We had to pull the locking gas cap (long story and a major PIA) and shoot the clasping mechanism up with Tri-Flow. It worked after a little bit of fiddling with it. Life is good now. Well except we have a carb issue now. I'll start a new thread on that after mothers day.

Thanks for the input gentlemen, very much appreciated.

I like Justice Brothers... stuff called JB 80.

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
Did the Tri-Flow and it still didn't fix the tank lock. It did fix the ignition lock. We had to pull the locking gas cap (long story and a major PIA) and shoot the clasping mechanism up with Tri-Flow. It worked after a little bit of fiddling with it. Life is good now.

Glad you got through the locks.

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
Well except we have a carb issue now. I'll start a new thread on that after mothers day.

Not motorcycles, but on outdoor power equipment and snowmobiles I've had good luck pulling the carb, soaking overnight in Seafoam, blowing it out the next day, and if necessary installing a rebuild kit (or at least the gasket components).