My Honda Civic 1995 has been playing up. Its temperature gauge needle rises close to red line with only 3-4 miles of drive.
It rises even faster if I turn on my car heater and in such cases goes to red line and I have to stop. As soon as I stop it takes no more than few minutes for the needle to drop to normal running temperature; that is strange.
It stays there for a while even after I restart driving before creeping up. There is no coolant leak and car does not have an AC. There is no leak of engine oil into radiator.
Recently a brand new thermostat was put in and radiator fan was made direct so it is independent of fan switch and turns on as soon as the ignition key is turned. However, there is no improvement in temperature issue.
With winter arriving I see trouble.
What else could be wrong?
Thanks for the help.

 

Engine cold, check in the radiator make sure it is full to the top. Do not just check the plastic bottle.

 

also make sure the whole radiator is getting hot not just half, you can also change your water pump. make sure your fans are plugged into the harness.
top it off with fluid.

 

have you tried bleeding the air out if the coolant system. I have a 98 Hatch and it was over heating. i ended up getting some air out of the system and it hasn't messed up since.