After four days of on & off fiddling I finally finished my timing belt replacement on my '89 16v GLE. There's a whine from the engine, sounds kind of like a turbo wine, but it seems to be running fine. How much noise is normal? Both belts were adjusted for about 1/4" deflection with firm thumb pressure, the balance belt a bit more slack.

Also, I used a quick way to hook up the water pump that avoids the whole jack & 2x4 method. Get one of those ratchet-straps like people use to hold things down to their roof-racks. The kind with the nylon-web strap. If you wrap the strap around the bottom of the water pump and over the top of the camshaft sprockets, you can winch the waterpump on their good & tight.

Now I have to figure out how water is getting into my car. The sunroof seal is pretty ugly, but there isn't any water on the headliner. I'm getting water in the backseat footwells. The carpets are soggy after a good storm. Any ideas where this could be coming from? I left a roll of paper towels in the trunk one night and the next day they were damp. Could the water in the footwells be coming in from the trumk?

Thanks!
-Fran

if you have a whine and it's not your mother-in-law, the balancer belt is either too tight or too loose. i always leave the rh cover off after a belt and tension it while it's idling. loosen it so it just stops whining and make sure it's not floppy. or, you can start and listen a few times if you don't like the engine running. good luck, chuck.

Look in the 700 series FAQ's under sunroof. There's lots of good material there.