I dont know much about cars at all but I recently purchased a 1992 4 door Honda Civic that is giving me trouble. The first thing I noticed is it keeps over heating. I can drive it for about 20-30 minutes without a problem but after that the gauge starts creeping up to the red line quite quickly. Also it has already given me trouble to start up twice (I have to try to start it 3-4 times before it starts).

 

I don't know much
But I know I love youooouuu
That may be all you need to knoooowwww

 

this could be so many things... bad thermo, bad rad or rad cap, bad water pump etc... I would suggest finding a civic over heating diagnostic video on YouTube and start there ... checking the fan, pressure testing, checking the thermo and so on in steps until you figure it out..

 

Red line overheat several times, head is probably warped and needs new head gasket as well and machined to be flat again.

 

^Always a big concern when an engine overheats

Does the engine lose coolant in the reservoir or radiator? Check with cool engine.

Is the radiator fan running when the engine overheats?