My timing belt has alot of play. can the tensioner go bad

started the vr4 for the first time in a while and it was making a strange vibrating type sound. i popped the hood and can see that the sound is coming from timing belt moving (up and down like a bike chain) between the cam gears. i shut it off and can move the belt almost and inch up and down between the gears. the belt is fairly new. can this be the tensioner dying? what else can it be?
thanks
jeremiah

 

[The_Big_Weave]

Just change it dont risk it.

 

[H05TYL]

Could be the idler pulley that tensions the belt is loose or mis-adjusted.

Further investigation is required me-thinks.

Tensioners aren't hugely expensive however, so you might as well replace it anyway, just for peace of mind.

 

[Barnes]

Tension is either bad, or misadjusted. Unless you KNOW exactly how old it is, I would just replace it and triple check the adjustment when you put it back together.

 

[fivestardsm]

I have a pile of bad ones that prove they take a dump. I wouldn't say they were hugely expensivve tho, the last one I bought was $100. That is tons cheaper than the alternative of bending valves. If you read up in your manual, there are a couple different ways to check them, but both require the cover to be off atleast.

 

[1990ggsxnj]

Yea, just pull the cover. There is no real way of knowing until you do. Out of the 3 used galants that I purchsed, 2 of them had bad adjusters.