HELP, my seat latch isn't working and the seat backrest is stuck!

[ShrimpPimp]

I have a 1990 Vmax and when I wiggle the latch on the right side of the bike to unlatch the mid seat it moves freely but nothing happens. I have pried, looked with a light and done everything I could think of to try and determine what needs to be moved manually to unlatch the seat to expose the gas cap. I can't see any screws or any other way to get the seat to swivel forward with this latch being stuck. I am assuming when I last closed the seat something may have caused interference. Any guidance is appreciate because the more I try and wiggle and pull the more frustrated I become. Thanks!

 

[02GF74]

If I remember, I'll take a look tomorrow. It probably just needs a good yank.

... Sorry if this is insulting but there is a latch on both sides, and both need to be undone for the backrest thing to pop up.... Sorry but let's get the obvious stuff out of the way since I'm not near your bike

 

[ShrimpPimp]

Damn. Thank you for reminding me that there’s a second latch. Currently the bike was pushed snug up against the wall and placed on a trickle charger. We were only pulling the latch on one side. I’ve only had a bike about two days and it’s been almost 30 years since I had a Vmax before. I will call my buddy and have him double check that second latch. The previous owner had installed a grossly undersized lithium battery so when my buddy was driving we left the headlight on for a couple of minutes when we got back to his house and he killed the battery. So we wheeled the bike into his garage and put it on the charger and then we started filling with a seat and I was already out of sorts because the battery was dead and I wasn’t home. I had a 1994 Vmax for five years when I was going to college so you think I would’ve remembered both latches. Lol.

 

[ShrimpPimp]

Thanks, the second latch did the trick. I feel like an idiot but sometimes you just have a brain fart.

 

[Equanish]

If I remember, I'll take a look tomorrow. It probably just needs a good yank.

... Sorry if this is insulting but there is a latch on both sides, and both need to be undone for the backrest thing to pop up.... Sorry but let's get the obvious stuff out of the way since I'm not near your bike

Yes

 

[Gbianchi]

Yes

And that everyone is how we help each other!

 

[ShrimpPimp]

Well I figured out today why I seemed like such a nitwit. The only latch on my Vmax that engages is the one on the left-hand side. The latch on the right hand side of the bike doesn’t engage so I never ever had to pull on that one when I was getting gas. When the battery died and we had the bike hooked up next to the wall I really couldn’t reach over the seat to get to the latch on the left-hand side. I kept pulling on the latch on the right hand side which has never worked from day one. That’s why I figured there was only one latch on the seat and now it was not working.

 

[02GF74]

Curiosity got the better of me so I took a look.

It seems the mechanism is pretty straightforward. A lever that pivots with the pointy end engaging in a bracket to which the seat hump is attached, with a spring so the lever is latched when the hump is pushed down, and another spring so the hump pops up.

Can't be much that can go wrong, perhaps one of the springs breaking or the lever dropping off should the pivot bolt break.

If it were me, I'd fix it, I would not like thought that the hump could pop up if I were riding, nothing bad would happen but an unnecessary distraction for sure.