OK, so here's my situation. My girlfriend's '92 Civic DX (1.5 liter w/ 140k) has been over heating. She took it to her dad, he changed the thermostat, didn't help.

She took it to the shop, they thought maybe cracked head, or cracked block. I guess Honda blocks are made of Aluminum, from what they told me (not sure)

I thought maybe a blown head gasket? I couldn't see a leak, or find one, but there is coolant around the engine bay, so it has got to be spraying from somewhere, the cap is on tight. She says that the level is staying full of coolant, but the shop said it's burning it up. I assumed that if the block was cracked, she would be burning oil? Am I right in my assumption? One of the times she started it up while I was looking for leaks a very small, light bit of steam/smoke came from underneath the airbox area, but that's all the smoke I've ever seen from it.

The car will start, and run, no noises and drive fine, but after 20 minutes it will heat up, not smoke, but the gauge will go right up to Hot, so she shuts it down before any further damage could occur. It's been like this for a week or two.

I have swapped engines in FWD cars, and have rebuilt V8s, but have no experience with Honda motors, or any coolant issues, so I need your guy's expertice here. Any advice or comments would be appreciated!

Matt