Sure, tell the dealer he's an idiot, but doubt it'll do much good.

2 screws on the bottom of the cap and the bottom will come off.
the rubber gasket should be able to be pulled off now.
go out and buy a sheet of 1/8" or 4mm (not quite sure how thick, measure it and get the next bigger size) rubber and cut a gasket from it.

check your motor mounts 2 by the pegs and 3 on the head.  loose mounts cause the motor to be loose and jump up and down more.

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1250445664

verslagen1 wrote on 04/26/10 at 17:29:21:


Yes, the ideal thickness is around 1/8" (3.2mm) to 4mm.  That is thicker than the stock gasket, which is good.. you squeeze it down slightly with the cap and it makes a good seal.  

It is pretty easy to fix the gas leak; no one should put up with it.  For cripes's sake don't pay a dealer $100!!  If you cannot find the right size "spud washer" you could get a sheet of gasket material and use the old gasket as a template and cut it out with an xacto knife or scissors.

As gasoline is removed from the tank air needs to replace it. I have not noticed any tubing exposing the top of the tank to atmosphere, so it just occurred to me that the gas caps are designed to leak to allow air to enter. It seems like a stupid design idea but it would work. Perhaps air is supposed to enter the tank via the lock through the keyhole, but that seems to be stretching the reliability of an air path. Therefore, making the cap air tight would defeat that supposed design and allow a vacuum to be created as gas is drawn off, setting up a new set of problems. Any thoughts on this?

Hmm. I fixed my gasket so it sealed the tank, and wouldn't you know it, I starved my carb for fuel after about a mile. I opened the tank, closed it, and in another mile it simulated running out of fuel. Tried it a third time, same result. After I fixed the gasket so that the seal was not air-tight I have not had any problems. There are only 6000 miles on my bike, and if there are supposed to be vent holes they don't seem to be doing their job, and I doubt that the cap is defective, since when do caps break?

The cap is clean, and it is not the salt. I installed several 1/8 gaskets I made myself so that there is a positive seal at the tank to prevent leaks. However, that seal also blocked the breather hole from under the lock. After much frustration I drilled a 1/16 hole through the top of the cap next to the breather hole. It is not elegant, but it is tiny and it will allow air to enter the tank as the gasoline is withdrawn.