I have never stayed on my bike to fill up,Alway put it on the kick stand,Never had a gas cap leak or burped the tank,Which is new to me I never heard of it til I got here.

Hey, everybody -

I just thought I'd give you an update on my gas cap issue. Suzuki chewed my dealer out pretty well ... apparently the dealer never contacted Suzuki at all about the gas cap issue. To make nice-nice with me <g> Suzuki sent a brand new gas tank and cap to my dealer. I dropped the bike off after work on Wednesday and picked it up after work on Thursday. (1 day instead of 12!!) Well, now the bike looks practically mint! Suzuki did forget the nice Boulevard stickers that go on the sides of the tank, but they're now on the way too.

So ... those of you with leaky gas caps might want to contact Suzuki directly. I did have an extended warranty on my bike but you never know, they might just replace your tank & cap for free too. BTW, when I had to sign the warranty paperwork, I saw the price of the gas tank - $544 !!!! Holy moley - I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it!!!

Here's the website: http://www.suzukicycles.com/

From the website: "Should you have a situation that you believe requires American Suzuki's immediate assistance you may call Customer Service at 714-572-1490. Customer service representatives are available from 8:30AM to 5 PM PST."  and I spoke to Cecil. BTW, DON'T tell him I sent you - LOL!!

~Michelle

I think I lucked out for two reasons:

First, Suzuki was never contacted by my dealer about the gas cap and it was NOT ordered from them. (I think it was an after-market cap.) That meant the dealer lied to me about the cap coming from Suzuki in California and used them as an excuse for it taking so long to arrive. Suzuki was not pleased about being bypassed for the cap.

Second, Suzuki was NOT happy about an upset and irate customer who, 12 days after it was dropped off with the leaky cap issue, now had a bike with a mis-matched tank and a cap that still leaked!

If YOU were Suzuki, would you want one of your licensed dealers giving such poor customer service and repairs?

Now that I've thought about it, I think the dealer took that long because they were waiting for the paint job to cure on the tank. It didn't cure - after my first short ride after picking it up, the tank had scratches and pock marks in the paint. (Let me just say that after 4500 miles and eight months of riding, the original tank was still mint.) So ... I'm pretty sure they had it painted over the original paint, rather than stripping it down to the metal.

The good news is that it's supposed to be nice tomorrow and I'll be taking my Thumper out for a nice long ride.  Woo- hoooooo!!!



~Michelle

Charon wrote on 05/11/10 at 17:29:02:


I agree, Charon. I always have my bike on the stand when I fuel up. Two weekends ago I witnessed a Yamaha Roadstar Silverado 1700 bursting into flames just 10' from the gas pumps where it had just been gassed up. Yamahas apparently have carb float issues and that's why the owners manual says to shut off the fuel valve whenever the bike is not running. (We don't have that problem OR an off valve with our Thumpers!)

This Yamaha had been shut off and was sitting for at least 10 minutes before being gassed up and rolled away from the pumps.  I wasn't back on it until it was away from the pumps so the next guy could gas up. (I was on a 175 mile run with about 100 other bikes - it was a beautiful day!) It was probably another 10 or 15 minutes before I got back on it and the rider attempted to start it. (I would have been on my own bike if it wasn't still in the shop with the gas cap mess....)

Let me just say that it was pretty scary - I hopped off the back of that bike pretty darn fast when someone yelled FIRE right next to me!! Luckily there was a volunteer fireman standing outside the Stewart's store who ran in, got a fire extinguisher and put the bike out. The only damage was to the air filter box, a bit of wiring (not destroyed) and a bit of melting over the carb. That claim is going in to Yamaha as we speak.

BTW, after the firetruck hosed the chemicals off the bike (3 trucks and 2 police cars responded!!!), it started right up and we continued the last leg of the ride! The funniest thing about it was the identical Yamaha next to us at the pumps. He was afraid to start his bike. When we all got moving again, he was right in front of us ... and kept looking down to make sure he wasn't on fire. We laughed ourselves silly the last 20 miles of the ride. LOL!!

Anyway ... it would seem I have an affinity for gas tanks and fire .... lucky me!!

~Michelle

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 05/07/10 at 03:07:22:


Can you describe this a bit more? I just replaced the gasket on my '07 but it still leaks if I fill it up to the neck. I was trying to think of a way to make the gasket thicker and you seem to have found one.

Thanks. I'll try adding some depth to the gasket somehow. I'll also try smoothing out the lip of the filler hole since it does appear to be a bit irregular. Mind if I ask how you kept your sanding from entering the gas tank?

What I did was: drain the tank and stuffed an oily rag in it, then masked off the opening (there is enough of a lip there to get the tape to stick), then sanded it with emery cloth on a sanding block, then wet sanded with two more grades of sandpaper. I vacuumed the residual grit off the tape, pulled the tape, and then the rag. The purpose of the rag was to catch any crap that might have got buy the tape.