just put a stereo in my 88 samurai, and it works fine but when i put my headlights on the radio shuts off, now im pretty sure this is a ground, but i have no idea where to begin looking, almost seems like some wires are touching that shouldnt be

any help?

also when i push in my brake or clutch lever my headlights will dim, could it all be the same problem?

  Not to be a smart ass, but I'd begin looking at the stero installation. That's when the problem began right?

unplug the radio and see if the problem goes away. I used to try to wire those things and finally realized that a color blind person should not play with wires. I've got a 12V guy to take care of these things....funny thing is that I do about 4 months worth of work every year wiring houses.....

the lights dimmed before i ever put a stereo in, i wired it the correct way (checked on zuk sites before since i had no wires from the stock radio) took it apart and double checked it all and it still does it, works fine with the runing lights but shuts off with headlights

I take it the headlights stay on when the radio shuts off? do they dim? you have any idle problems?
 

yes the headlights stay on, not sure if they dim, didnt try it at night, sometimes the carb revs up a little high but i tap the gas and it goes back down to idle

The radio is grounded through the light wire - it's in the harness to the radio to dim the radio lights or light the radio (as required by the particular radio), so just disconnect that one wire and ground the radio side of it to the chassis.

well i ended up just hooking the radio up to a switch, simple, and it works fine

for the radio shutting off you probably attached the the extra wire from the new radio to the old wire that dimmed and brightened the display on the stock radio. we did it to my friends truck, i think just unattaching those 2 will fix it