Yamaha

'04 California V Star 1100

^{(or model years greater than '05 outside California)}

Gas Cap Venting Modification

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MATERIALS NEEDED:

• V Star 1100
• Rag
• Newspaper
• Medium Phillips screwdriver
• Sharpie Marker (Optional, if you have intact short-term memory function.)
• Medium Hold Locktight
• Beer (Optional, unless you are me.)

REMOVAL

1. Remove cap;
2. cover hole in tank with clean rag to keep critters and leaves out of the tank;
3. Remove key;
4. Work on a sheet of newspaper;
5. If you have a crappy memory like mine, make a sharpie line from just inside the chrome up and over to the middle of the cap. That will allow you to put all the parts back in exact order and orientation.
6. remove both collar bolts;
7. remove collar, as you remove the two spring-loaded retention clips will release their springs. They are not high tension springs. Just cup your hands to keep them from rolling away;
8. Remove the clips and springs and set aside;
9. There is a recessed washer you can remove it and set aside;
10. There are two plugs, both are "Y" shaped. One has a hole and one is solid. Leave the one with a hole alone. The solid "Y" teases out of the hole with a toothpick or fine needle nose pliers;
11. Below it is a bullet-shaped plug. Remove the plug and put with your legacy parts. If you take a peek, you'll see the vent hole and you'll see how easy this could get plugged up if the plug seats too well.

REASSEMBLY

1. Replace Solid "y" in hole (my opinion is it helps keep gas from sloshing up the vent hole);
2. put washer back in recess;
3. put the retaining clips over their springs, there are two slots, one for the spring one for the sliding nub. Just set it back on top, then the other retaining clip. You don't need to apply any pressure. Just stack it up with springs in place;
4. take the retaining ring and set it over the clips;
5. reinstall bolts--I recommend Medium Hold Locktight on the ends of these bolts as other riders have had these fall out for no reason whatsoever (no cap mod's were the cause).
6. Put the key back in the cap and test to make sure the retention clips retract, if not, redo steps 1 to 5 and test again!
7. Reinstall gas cap.
   

Enjoy no more tank vapor lock. Bikes in all 49 states do not have this plug until the '05 model years and later, California bikes started earlier so the tank vapors are run through the gas tank vapor recovery, engine random stall, system.

I am surprised this isn't a recall item. It's not the safest thing to suddenly have our bikes quit on the roadways. If you are also getting a stall in the first five minutes of running your bike from cold starts on hot days, or the bike stalls upon restarting after sitting a few minutes. This could be your problem. A quick fix until you can modify is to jiggle the gas cap firmly to release air into the gas tank to equalize the pressure. This likely will also stop the very slight momentary hesitations on high cruising speeds you might notice on hot days..

Disclaimer: The author makes no warranty with respect to this modification. This should be considered a satirical look at the dumbass (highly technical legal term for gas cap designers at Yamaha) work around needed  to make their bike safer and more reliable for off road use.

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