86 Sporty breaker issue?

[Bgrasela]

Newer to the forum. Anyways, I have an 86 Sporty which I recently had the heads off to do some work on. I replaced the heads, and buttoned everything back up, and she started fine and rode fine. Earlier in the week I removed the rear fender to change out some signal lights, and after replacing those, I turn the key into "ignition" and without trying to start the bike the breaker under the seat clicks on and off every few seconds. (the bike won't start either)

I have reason to believe its the accessory breaker. The PO had some goofy wiring hooked up to the rear brake light switch which I thought would fix the problem and did not. Checked the battery and its OK. All grounds look sound and clean. Anything obvious I'm missing here?

-B

[TriNortchopz]

Confirm which breaker is clicking. Check closely for a pinched wire or a wire bared to ground for the last thing you did - back fender re and re. Try disconnecting each connection to determine which circuit is causing the breaker to trip - taillight, brake light, rt signal, lt signal...do you have an electrical tester to help with troubleshooting? if not, it is a cheap investment - borrow one if you have to.

[Tattooo]

It sounds like you pinched a wire to me...

[Bgrasela]

It’s the accessory breaker. As the breaker clicks on/off the bike will crank when it is in the on position. I changed the starter relay and there’s no pinched wires that I can see. Will keep looking. Thanks for the replies this far.

[farmall]

Print a correct schematic then inspect and electrically verify your harness. An accessory breaker won't prevent starting.

A multimeter and a cheap test light (incandescent, because they are a load) are necessary to do it right.

Breakers actuate due to overload. You can swap breakers but it sounds like that one is working. Disconnect the output side and every component which feeds off that breaker. Note results. If it doesn't pop then add back the disconnected items until you find the problem.

Sounds like multiple problems and an old harness. 1986 is ancient history. You might want to look over the simplified Sportster wiring diagrams and replace/modify your harness.

[Bgrasela]

Rewired/simplified the rear portion of the harness. Also found a pinched wire in the handlebar. She started right up after that. Thanks for the help.

[Tattooo]

Rewired/simplified the rear portion of the harness. Also found a pinched wire in the handlebar. She started right up after that. Thanks for the help.

Well there you go....

Glad you got it fixed......