Rear seat stuck!

[showkey]

Cause..........First place to look, is where the outer cable is held in the bracket ( shown here at the arrows). The outer cable slips out of the bracket.





The cable can slip out of the bracket on either end.

As for maintenance lube on the latch is important. Smooth operation is an indicator, both for the seat and trunk. If it takes excessive force to operate the release this can be the cause for the cable slipping out of the bracket.

Page 2-6 of the shop manual shows grease should be used on the rear seat latch.
Page 2-20 of the shop manual calls out the greasing of the trunk latch.

 

[670cc]

Cause..........First place to look, is where the outer cable is held in the bracket ( shown here at the arrows). The outer cable slips out of the bracket.

A little safety wire wrapped around the cable and bracket might be an easy fix for that potential issue.

 

[ST13Fred]

Pushing down on the seat while turning the key is best in easing the opening process.
I went ahead and installed 2 pieces of .032 safety wire out each side, tucked out of sight, out of mind, just in case.
My very first thought when opening the seat for the first time was 'what if it won't open?' I'll never worry about that again.

 

[L.B.S.]

Wasn't some of the frunk latch opening problem potential, the swaged end of the cable twisting and deforming the nylon bushing, and/or slightly flaring out the "U" hook, making the ferrule pop out, or the cable throw not match the amount of distance needed to overcome the spring tension of the latch? I can't remember, does the seat opening cable latch have a similar nylon bushing at the pivot point?

I tend to agree with the speculation that the fixed point bracket that keeps the cable sheath in place is the most likely cause of grief, allowing the cable to pop out or flex more than it should before it can operate the latch.

Great idea to safety wire it in place! That's a good start, and I am definitely going to rig up an emergency back up as well, just...because.

 

[Neilp]

Finally got round to having a look today although my two bits of string have worked well over the last couple of weeks!
The outer sheath had split allowing the cable to kink so it wouldn't pull through.

I also changed the air filter while I was in there as I forgot to change it at the 32k service - looks decidedly second hand after 47k miles!

A way thanks for all the help and take care, Neil.

 

[Ruggybuggy]

Thanks for the update. Do you know what caused the kink to occur in the cable and was there an increase in the resistance when operating the key.

 

[Neilp]

No, there was no warning that the cable was on the way out. It was working fine and then it didn't!
It was my fault for the kink - I cable-tied the cable to some auxiliary wiring which put a loop in it. There's a small plastic clip holding the cable to the flange around the tank and the extra pressure pulled this off which led to the kink.
Live and learn I guess!

 

[GP06]

Rear Seat Stuck, No Resistance on Key

I would think cleaning and lubing the latch and cable would give enough protection against any failures. I'm sure Honda tested this mechanism a thousand times over. I would like to know how many people here have had a latch failure?

Happened to me yesterday at the gas station. Turned the key and there was no resistance turning toward the rear seat.
And of course my little tool pouch that I would need to remove body plastics to fix the issue are tucked under the seat/ fender. I had no choice but to try to make it home.
...I didn't make it, ran out of gas on the interstate!
After hitching a ride home and grabbing my trailer, I dug in and found that the cable sheath had come out of the 1/2 round retainer. So I took that all apart and drilled a small hole in the metal just above the retainer and safety wired it into place. I also tied some safety wire to the latches at the seat and tucked them in near the grab handles so I have a back up should this ever happen again. Many lessons learned yesterday!

 

[kpinvt]

Happened to me yesterday at the gas station. Turned the key and there was no resistance turning toward the rear seat.
And of course my little tool pouch that I would need to remove body plastics to fix the issue are tucked under the seat/ fender. I had no choice but to try to make it home.
...I didn't make it, ran out of gas on the interstate!
After hitching a ride home and grabbing my trailer, I dug in and found that the cable sheath had come out of the 1/2 round retainer. So I took that all apart and drilled a small hole in the metal just above the retainer and safety wired it into place. I also tied some safety wire to the latches at the seat and tucked them in near the grab handles so I have a back up should this ever happen again. Many lessons learned yesterday!

Fear of this happening to my bike drove me to purchase one of Dale's rear seat replacement racks with the fuel cap opening.

http://nc700-forum.com/forum/south-bound-honda/5694-hondabikepro-products.html

It installs in less than 15 minutes. I saved the seat in case I ever need to carry a passenger, highly unlikely, or I need to sell the bike, just as unlikely.

 

[Papafox]

After noticing that my seat has been growing in reluctance to release on the LHS (RHS latch was releasing perfectly fine), curiosity got the better of me. I had been trying to lubricate the latch mechanism in place, but to no avail, so I though it would be time to investigate what was actually happening. The force needed to fully unlatch the seat has been twisting my key at the weak point.

After pulling the bike half apart (seriously, all body panels needed to come off!) I found the culprit. The cross beam that the two latches mount to needed to be removed, and after removing the latches it was obvious by the paint that has rubbed off, that the sliding portion of the latch has been rubbing on the underside of the cross beam. A bit of grease in there and it's like new again. In my dodgy pic, the problem area is under the red lines.