I purchased a 2000 Audi A6 Quatrro 4.2L V8 from a person who couldn't fix it for $2000 bucks. The car looks beautiful inside out and was originally a salvage from the insurance company sold to an auction, sold to a dealer then sold to a private party, then finally sold to me. The car has been in many hands and looks like no one knew how to fix it and kept diagnosing the car with a transmission problem. I bought the car and had it towed to my house and immediately noticed that someone put Dexron 3 transmission fluid, because the pan has reddish black filthy fluid when I drained it.Anyway, I replaced the filter, gasket and filled with Audi ATF I bought from Blaugf....com
It didnt work. The car wont move so I discovered it was the computer under the rug that was wet. Now it drives forward and seems to shift fine.

Sorry for going off topic, my main question is... Is it normal for the timing belt to be loose when the engine is off?

I was cleaning the engine compartment and removed the front end to clean and inspect the front engine components and conditions before driving around. I noticed that the timing belt looks new, but it is really loose only between the two cam shafts. it slacks right under the water pump like a hammock. The belt doesnt even touch the water pump between the cam shafts. The engine starts fine, and rough idles onlyt when cold. then when it warms up it runs smoothly. The belt is nice and tight after a start up. But if you leave the engine off for ten minutes, the slack returns between the cams and under the pump. I turned the crankshaft by hand clock wise and it immediately tightens up nice after only a quarter turn. Is this normal? Or do I have a malfunctioning hydraulic tensioner? Is the hydraulic tensioner suppose to retract slowly when the engine is off? Or is it suppose to be tight always, no matter what conditions or temperatures in the outside enviroment? I don't know. Where can I buy a cheap quality tensioner? Everywhere I look, they want to sell you the whole kit over $500 bucks. Everything looks new in there, and car has 100k miles on it. It was serviced recently, cause if not, it would be shitty and rusty looking under the covers. The belt still has the white part number on stamped on the back side, it hasnt faded.