1998 honda civic, starts and runs once I shut it off and try to start again it just spins and will not catch after about 15 20 min. it will start again, what might the problem be?

That may be a bad or maladjusted clutch safety switch. If you battery is low or bad, it can cause the same sort of problem.

Need way more information. What's in common when this hapopens? Are you stopped at a light? Slowing down? Shifting into 2nd gear? When you restart, is there a particular pattern or sound when it restarts? Is it hard or easy to restart? Does it start right up, or does the engine spin and "try to start" before it finally catches? And on and on. Try to isolate specific common issues and post those, please.

have you tried the ignitor in the distributor

Try this first, and lets see what happens. Turn key to on, but not start, then off. do that about four or five times, then try to start. See if it starts, runs, then dies. Let me know. Have you had fuel pressure tested at all? If it doesn't start and run for a short while at least, take air intake hose off at throttle body intake, open throttle and spray a good shot of WD-40 into throttle body, then try to start. If it starts, you have a fuel delivery problem, maybe fuel pump or plugged filter would be first to check. Just because you hear the pump, doesn't necessarily mean it's getting proper pressure to run. Let me know what happens when you try this, and we'll go from there.

how long does it normally have to sit before it will restart?

You need it checked by your local auto electrician or friend who has a scanner.The reason check engine came on is a faulty sensor/component.

You need to replace your coil pack. It sounds to be over heating which results in no spark being sent and the enige dies. Very common fault and easily fixed.

it sound like you have a bad distributor, good luck.

my honda civic wont turn over and when i tried to crossover starter all it did was spin but would noy engage

A bad coil will produce these symptoms.