Hey guys.

Recently, I noticed that my car has been making a clicking noise during idle that gets much louder when in reverse. It seemed to be coming from the front of the engine and I thought for a while that it was the alternator belt pulley. A few days ago, however, a CEL came on after starting. I turned the car off and, out of curiosity, decided to check the timing belt's tightness. It was surprisingly slack. Could this be the reason for the CEL and the clicking. I don't feel comfortable driving the car to autozone to get the ECU scanned so unfortunately I don't have any codes for you guys. Any ideas would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance.

 

Update.

Ordered timing belt kit from ecs and replaced today. The belt tensioner was shot (the piston was not making any pressure) and my timing belt was extremely loose as a result. Replaced and gonna put the car back together and give it a try tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.