1996 honda civic dying at stops

My sweet little 1996 Honda civic EX Coupe is dying at stops and
sometimes during turns. I don’t know if it is the clutch or what. As
I shift down from 2nd to 1st, the battery light will flash and it will
just die as I come to a stop. Sometimes if I brake hard and give it
gas it will sputter, but not die.
Also, it has died out in sharp turns, where I shifted down and held in
the clutch during the turn. It’s done this about 5 times in the past
month. That’s very scary.

Also, two days ago, I parked at work on an incline and went to put it
reverse and the gears started grinding and I couldn’t put it into any
gear. Did it again yesterday. Really scary. After reading some other
posts, I guess that I could say it doesn’t have great pressure.

I am getting ready to get a new car, but I don’t even really want to
trade the Civic in like this. Furthermore, I could get about $1500
more from an private buyer, but I wouldn’t want to sell it like this.
Also it has 184,000 miles and has been a GREAT car. No major engine
stuff.

Third I am thinking of taking the car to my hometown mechanic to check
it out. He is honest, good and cheap and actually checked this car
out when I was buying it from a used dealer. The mechanic had ALREADY
checked it out because the dealer is his uncle. Anyways, he said he
really wanted to buy the car himself, but didn’t have the extra cash.
It IS a great car. I think he MIGHT buy it, but that is sticky.

Any advice on any of this?

 

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Top up the brake fluid AND the clutch fluid. Sounds like both have been
ignored. You may have a loose ground wire where your battery or engine
attaches to the chassis.

'Curly'

 

my 2000 civic did the same. ignition switch. take it in for free
recall replacement.

 

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If it's the ignition switch, the dealer will tell you over the phone
whether your (free) recall has been performed. Usually ignition switch
kills it DEAD, as if someone had removed the key. (frightening in
traffic)

'Curly'

 

mine was behaving exactly as the op described. figured it was the
weight of the keyring moving it just enough to kill it. and you can
stop all this panic by carefully returning the switch to it's proper
rest position. the problems comes from the return spring between "run"
& "start" not being strong enough to move the internal contacts so
they're fully touching, just resting against their edges. without the
full contact area, little patches of the switch burn out. returning the
switch my hand overcomes that little extra friction & makes full contact.