Gas Tank Latch

My friends bike (non nomad... ) has a gas tank latch that is hard to open. When we look at the striker, it has dusty/crusty white stuff on it (like corrosion). It is also hard to move, even by pushing it in with your fingers.

I suggested that we put a few towls across the tank to protect the gas and the tank finish. Then we liberally use WD-40 to clean the striker, wiping as much of the white "stuff" off as we can, and keep working the striker (again, with much WD-40) to see if we can get it moving smoothly.

Does anyone see anything really bad with this idea? I'm sure that a few drops of WD-40 will end up in the tank.

Thank you.

Michael K