ive been having trouble starting my car at all so i finally checked the timing belt and its got about half a inch of play on each side.So my question is that could my car not be starting cause its loose,i dont know if the timing got off or if its just cause of the tensioner which i havent got to check yet???

 

what do you mean by starting trouble? like hard to crank over like it sounds like its fighting or it just doesnt want to start up..... if it sounds like its struggling or kicking back it might have jumped timing, but if it sounds like it just doesnt want to run id trya tune up if you havent had one in a while, like plugs wires cap rotor and fuel filter, oh and do you have any check engine lights....

 

i have replaced all that stuff you mentioned....its like it wants to start up and its trying to but its like something is keeping it from turning all the way over.It doesnt just crank and crank....im getting 2 of my plugs wet and the other 2 are dry so i thought maybe the loose belt had something to do with it....the TDC was pretty damn close to straight up but with the belt being so loose i wasnt sure since i havent got to tear it down more.

 

sounds like you jumped timing if the cam is even one tooth off on a sohc( im assuming thats what you have) they are really hard to start

 

well this was something that slowly got worse....went from dying at lights and starting right back up to not even starting now.I thought maybe the belt stretched but i dont know,i think we are gonna replace it this weekend...could the tensioner let the belt go loose or something like that??