Gas Cap Leaking

I was wondering is anyone else has had a problem with a leaking gas cap? My VF500F is leaking when I fill the tank to the bottom of the tank flange and it smells like gas pretty much all the time.I noticed that the seal is pretty hard and I was thinking of trying to pull it, intact, and making another one. Has anyone repaired a gas cap in the fashion?

 

does it look like someone has tried prying the cap off? check to see if the clasps
go into the tank on tank is bent and look at top ware the surface is sometimes they can be bent back
if that is the case.

 

Also, make sure the sealing surface (the rim where the gasket actually touches the tank) is clean and rust/pitting free. This basically means a clean bare metal surface. A friend of mine just got a new tank for his bike and it was taped off poorly when it was painted thus causing an uneven sealing surface when his fuel cap is closed, it leaks like hell! So make sure there's no paint or overspray there either. Even though a hard gasket seems like your problem, if the rim aint clean and purdy you'll likely run into more leakage problems with a new gasket and/or it will ruin the new gasket and won't seal if you clean up that rim later. No, I haven't done something like this but is sounds like a great idea if you can get a little sheet of rubber that is fuel resistant so it dosen't swell or brake down prematurely. Just use a really sharp knife and take your time to cut it out smooth, should work great.

 

No, the cap has not been pried on or messed up in any way. The rubber seal looks hard, and feels like a piece of teak wood. The sealing rim of the tank does have paint and some pits. I will clean it up before I go tearing the old rubber seal off.

 

I tried to fix one by removing the rubber but I have not been able to do it without damaging it (vf1000fe). It is important that the part snapped in the cover remain intact. I fixed the problem by cutting a new gasket over the actual one, making the seal between the hardened gasket and the tank. The new gasket is held in place by the ears that keep the cover closed in the tank. Net perfect, not ideal, but it works. Part is no longer available.

That fix solved my leaking problem and one of my fuel smell problem. The tube under the seat were also dried out and there was a smell of fuel in that area. I replaced the tubes and the fuel pump with a spared one I had. This fixed the 2nd fuel smell problem. I will take a pic and add it to the thread when my computer will have a mouse. This page is quite complex to use with a keyboard only.

 

I can see where trying to remove old seal would be difficult. What material did you use for this secondary seal?

 

I used a rubber washer from a plumbing part. I enlarged the inner hole and made notches in it for the overflow to still work. Washer is 1mm thick.

If you look at the original seal, there are dents in the inner hole surrounding the lock cylinder (at least it does on the vf1000. I once pryoff the top black cap to see the overflow path.