Solution to Jammed Stuck Seat!

Hi there everybody!
It's been a while since I have posted here, and having encountered my first serious problem with my SW, "and solved it!", I thought I would share my experiences with the community

So, about a month ago my seat became jammed shut! Fortunately, everything I actually needed for riding in the -10 degrees here in Vienna was in my top box, and I was buggered if I was going to freeze to death on the street trying to explore what the actual problem was. Anyway, this week the temperatures rose and the sun came out. Having read all the postings on this site with regards to stuck seats, I ventured out to the bike and tried all the tips suggested without any joy. Time to start taking thinks apart!! I had at first assumed that it was the central catch that had seized but as I began to remove all the back panels and passenger rail, I eventually realized that it was the rear catch where the problem lay. ............

As I turned the key in the now exposed lock and watched the rear catch it soon became clear that the release cable had either stretched or had become loose at one end. There seemed to be no way of adjusting the cable to tighten it, but what I did notice was that there was a certain amount of flexing going on with the casing which surrounds the lock barrel and to which the cable is pivoted! Playing around with several ideas, I finally wedged an old bold in between the barrel and the casing which took away just enough of the slack in the cable to allow it to unlock the seat!!!

I was so pleased with myself at this simple solution and have been testing out the lock several times a day since to check that it is still working fine, which it is ............. perfectly!!

It does seem a bad design to me for the mighty Honda, but at least I now have access to my under seat goodies )

Hope this is of some help to others out there with a similar problem!

SteVe

Thanks for the info.

When I had the side panel removed I took some photos of the key lock. If I understand correctly you wedged the area I've marked in blue. I bent the metal bracket increasing the distance which reduced the slack in the cable while I was there.

I agree with you that metal bracket I weak and could do with strengthening.

After studying the locking mechanisms I cant see how the central catch works. As it doesn't have a hook like the back catch does!

Oh, those metal clips circled in red held so tight I though I was going to crack the plastic trying to get the side off.

Totally agree with you about those stubborn clips. I was terrified that I might crack those panels trying to get them off!

Glad to hear that my lock problems aren't peculiar to my own SW

SteVe