electrical problem

[jamesh23]

Alright to begin with its an 1988 honda accord lxi 5 speed.

none of the lights on the inside work, all that works is the cd player, headlights/brights, heater occasionally, all the gauges above the steering wheel, and the lights behind the gauges. And the passenger side light on the door, thats it.

The problem

The car will not hold a charge, I have to jump it to get it started and it will idle but as soon as i touch the brake the car dies and will not start back up even with a jump.

Now when it was running, it would run good, id shut it off and turn it on within a few hours and it would start. But if I left the battery cables attached to the posts the car would not start the next morning I would deatach the negative cable and it would start the next morning about 80% of the time, I need to get this figured out or im just gonna sell it for $500.

[Hauntd ca3]

get your charging system and batt checked by an auto electrician.
sounds like either the alt has a problem or your batt is stuffed

[jamesh23]

how much is generally an alternator for our cars?

[2drSE-i]

alternators are generally pretty cheap. You could have someone rebuild your old one too.