I purchased a slightly rusted standard '93 civic for $1000 in early January this year. Drove fine the first day but I expected there to be hidden problems. Distributor blew apart after 2 days. Towed it to a shop to get it fixed and have everything else checked out.

Distributor fixed, timing adjusted, rear brakes and I was good to go. Drove it to California from Utah 3 weeks later. Drive Pulley came loose while I was down there due to damaged woodruff key. Cheap fix without replacing the pulley. About a month ago it started having difficulty starting and I haven't figured it out yet.

It acts like a low battery, but the battery tests fine. If its been parked for a few hours the lights get dimmer, but it has trouble starting even if its been off only a few minutes. Turn the key and you get the low battery clicks and attempts to turn over with no success, but 1 out of every 5 tries or so it will turn over after about 10-30 seconds of attempts. The other times I hook up a jumper box and it starts up right away, but lately its been struggling there too. I don't hear any problems with the starter itself.

Any suggestions?

 

Just to clarify, you say battery tests fine. What kind of test(s)?