I went down and talked to the local dealer and the mechanic said the screw driver trick is the way to do it. We looked at another 08 EGC he had in the shop and measured up from the bottom of the chrome tank cover up to the hole the latch goes into. It measured roughly 5".
I marked off the screw driver i was using with some electrical tape, bent the screw driver a little and about 10-15 minuets later i had it open.

Looking at another bike with the cover open and seeing how small the latch hole was and measuring how far up the screw driver had to go helped big time.

How the hell i was able to push the latch back with that screw driver ill never know. The latch would not spring back when i took the lock out no matter which way i turned the key. I even tried a pair of channel locks on it and it didnt want to move. It was either just barely into the opening, or i got lucky and managed to move it the one time.

Picked up the new push button latch while i was there and slapped it in. Now its time to put this puppy to rest for a few months.
Hopefully itll stop raining long enough to ride it over the storage garage. One of these days im a gonna have to build myself a garage...

 

Glad you found someone to help. I told you it would work, just couldn't be there to demo for ya...... Too bad you have to put it up, we don't have that problem down here.

 

Thanks again for the tip Jinks. Yeah it was in the 50's today and is supposed to be about that all week. We will get clobbered soon im sure.
The 3 months of down time make me appreciate those early spring rides all that much more.

 

Bringing this to the top. This exact same thing just happened on my 02 Ultra. Just bought the bike yesterday. What kind of screw driver did you use, a long trim screw driver? Does the feeler gauge thing only work with new bikes? Any tips? Thanks guys!

 

I used the feeler gauge on my 1995 model.
from the top
It took about 40 minutes standing outside a gas station 800 miles from home.

when it happened to me it was WITH the push button kit DO NOT USE THEM, I HAVE HAD 2 OF THEM FAIL !

patience


mike

 

Thanks, previous post say this method will not work with newer bikes. Do you know how new? Mine's an 02.

 

no, I don't know.

on my 1995 the screws for the console are under the gas cap cover...on my 2009 the console is held on by an allen head screw in the front and a 3/8" head bolt at the rear...but the gas cap keeps the console from coming off.

my advantage was some experience lock picking, and an understanding of the latch mechanism having had the previous push button kit break and fall apart on me.

I used the brass feeler gauge as that is what I had in my saddlebag--- a slender piece of plastic, like cut from a milk jug might also work.

cut it so that you have a hook, if you can slide down the side of the latch, get the hook under it and pull up, that may pull the wedge shaped latch back far enough the release.



the challenge is to not screw up the paint on the tank.


if it all goes wrong, you could try a cut off wheel on the cover...



mike