Filling up yesterday and the gas nozzle stuck in the open position. Once the tank was full it just kept on coming and coming. I jerked it out of the tank and pointed it away from the bike, but not before the tank got thoroughly dowsed and I got splashed, as well. This is the second time this has ever happened to me and just curious if anyone else has taken a similar bath.
I think there's a small spring that normally causes that little lever to swing back up when not intentionally set in the locked position. Then when you squeeze the handle a little further the lever swings back out of the way. But, when it's broken and you point the nozzle down as we do when filling a bike, the lever automatically falls (gravity) into the locked position and doesn't release automatically when you let off the handle. It finally did in this case when I lifted the handle up horizontally and away from the tank- gravity then allowed the latch to swing back away.
Of course if you're fast enough to realize what and why this is happening you can just hook your finger in there and pull the lever away, all while fuel cascades over your tank.
I seem to remember someone on this site whose bike caught on fire due to the tank overfilling, although I think in that case it was because the automatic shutoff didn't work. Because of that I never sink the nozzle into the tank (causes splashing while filling), but hold it back enough so I can see when the tank is nearly full. Works well, unless that frigg'n locking mechanism fails. From here on out I will
always inspect that lock has a working spring before fueling.
Anyway, hope this might help prevent someone else from ending up smelling like an open gas can or, worse yet, possibly catching their bike on fire.
With broken spring that lever falls by itself into the locked position