98 Escort ZX2 stalling when cold

My 98 ZX2 Z-Tech DOHC with 120,000 miles started stalling and sputtering a couple days ago, mostly in the morning when it was cold.

It finally got a check engine light the other day when it started acting up. I had the codes read and there were 4 of them:

Low coolant
cam timing over advanced (2 times)
cam timing over retarded

I know I am low on antifreeze and have a small radiator leak which would explain the first code.

My mechanic said I probably needed a timing belt since it had never been replaced, so I made an appointment to have it checked.

OK, Strange part of the story:
I am taking the car to the garage yesterday and it's acting terrible, stalling, stumbling, I'm afraid I won't make it.

After several restarts, the car gets warmer, and as soon as the temp needle moves off cold, it runs perfectly! (The check engine light disappeared at this time also)

The mechanic calls to tell me the belt is only streched, not tore up. I figured that would be true, otherwise the car would run bad all the time, right?

I told him to change it anyway since it's well overdue, but that does not explain the bad running & stalling when cold.

Would it have anythng to do with the lack of antifreeze, or is it something else?