Hello everyone-
I have an '87 245. I went through a bit of a saga at the mechanics yesterday and need some help. I normally do as much work as I can myself, and am getting ready to take a long journey, and needed my drive belts replaced. It's too friggin' cold here to do that right now, so I took it to the mechanic. To make a long story short, there was an argument over work I wanted done, and how many belts I wanted changed, but that's something I won't get into. They ended up changing all of the drive belts. Now everything's running great, but for some reason the alternator (maybe waterpump?)is howling a bit. It's not too loud, but it does it. OK, belts too tight, right? Well, according to Bentley, there should be about 3/8" deflection, which seems to be about right when I checked. They don't seem be too tight. They aren't too loose either. At least they used Contitech belts!
OK, here are some possibilites of what I'm thinking could be wrong:

A) Belt is too tight, alternator bearings under stress. Didn't notice this before because the old belts were worn.

B) Same as above only water pump

C) Belts are new, need time to adjust/break-in whatever. Nothing to worry about.

The battery light is not illuminating (yet?). I really don't want to burn up this alternator in the middle of my trip. Can I loosen the tension by slightly undoing the adjustment bolt by the alternator?

Finally, these jerks left the pry tool sitting on the shock tower and closed the hood. When I picked up my car, the passenger side of the hood was shut, and the driver side appeared to be open, yet it was latched! How do you like that? I should've kept that tool! Oh yeah, and my car smelled like a freakin' ash tray!! Luckily, nothing was damaged. These guys claim to work on Porsches, Ferraris, and other exotics. No Thanks! Alright, I'm done. Any help would be greatly apprecitated! Thanks in advance!

-Ryan B. IL