Hey all, I have a beautiful '88 Civic DX 2dr/hatch. Here's a little background on the car:
Bought it in Salem, North Carolina in 1999. It was a repossession. Except for running on a doughnut spare, the car was in excellent shape.
I live in South Dakota now, and the car has gone through quite a mechanical transformation. It now has the complete suspension from a 1991 CRX Si under it, so it is one of few '88 civcs running around with 4-wheel disk brakes.
It has new cross-drilled rotors, new brake pads, new brake calipers and lines.
The struts were real low time from the wrecked CRX.
It has new RWL tires with black NASCAR style wheels. The interior is basically stock. Has a Kenwood CD player and custom speaker/amplifier panel in the back. Under the hood, has a recent complete head rework by a local machine shop, new starter, new alternator, new battery. New coil, new Main Relay (even took the main relay apart and re-soldered the contacts as this car suffers sometimes from the "engine won't start after you drive it for awhile, shut it off, run into the gas station, and come back out right away....you have to shut the key back off, and let it sit for a few minutes, and then it will start again...." )
But last fall, after it was in a car show and shine, I put it in the garage for the winter. Once during the winter, I tried to start it, and the battery was dead. I put a battery charger on it, charged it up, and let it run for awhile. This summer, I have been driving the car some, and it seems like sometimes it will start just fine, other times it acts like the battery is dead, because the lights are dim on the dash, and the car won't start. I can push-start it in that situation, and it run keep running. Then possibly the next time, it will start fine. I put a new battery in it about 2 weeks ago, while the car was running, and the alternator kept the car running while the battery was out, so it seems to be charging fine, and the voltage is just over 14 volts. Recently, on a short road trip, I tried to start the car at dusk, and it wouldn't start, so I push-started it. But, when I turned on the headlights, it killed the car instantly. But, it would run with the park lights on. Looked for a direct short somewhere, all looks good. I took the new starter out and had it tested just in case.
I removed the old ignition switch and associated harness, because I believe that there is a connection between the ignition switch and the headlights. Took the cover off the switch and saw that some of the contacts were burned. So I ordered a new switch and replaced it. I haven't seen any places where there could be a direct short, and I don't think there could be one in the headlight switch, because it would burn up the little wires between the headlight switch and the headlight relay.
I'm running out of ideas.... this car is for sale, but it can't be acting like this!!! Help!!

 

When i turn on the headlight switch, it shuts off all the dash lights and the headlights don't come on.... Relay??

 

Could be the switch. Might have to replace the whole arm.

 

you might have a parasitic drain somewhere

 

Check the positive and negative wires that connect to the battery. Are they very clean an tight??

 

If you turn the headlights on and the car dies there's something wrong with your alternator. That would be my 1st guess.

My 2nd guess is since you stored the car all winter without a trickle charge on it the battery is bad.