I did about the biggest mistake ive done in awhile. Basically I pulled my water pump and put paper towels at the two ports while removing the old gasket. In my rush I did not remove these paper towel pieces when I put on the new pump. I filled the radiator with fluid and ran the engine for about ten minutes before I relized that I f'd up. (half a paper towel in each port) Is this going to be a big issue for me or will they break down to a point that I can flush them out? Please help.

 

Thats probably going to be a major problem. Lots of places for them to get stuck, creat blockages and overheat your car.

 

i'd pull the pump and see if the towels are still there -- might as well get out any pieces that you can.

 

What if I don't find anything? And how much pressure runs through the system at idle? I will pull it tom. after I get another gasket and some coolant

 

You should pull the thermostat too. If you're lucky most it will have collected there.

 

Well I took the pump of and nothing there. So I re-installed pumpfilled coolant system and run the vehicle at idle till warm and toasty. vehicle got to 220ish and then dropped to 180 or so then large fan cut off. I checked the return line off the thermostat housing and it was pretty toasty so I assume that I have flow. Going to remove thermostat like was said above to check for pieces. Does this sound like normal operation? am I in the clear? And is it hard to remove thermostat housing and thermostat on 3800 '98. Any help would be appreciated.

 

not what you want to here but not in the clear at all paper towel doesn't break down as fast as say toilet paper. just put some in water and see how long it stays together. and I hope you have good luck with getting it out.