[bambam89lx]

Originally Posted by CRXperiment

First just take your head off and inspect it. Dont even waste your time and money on a new belt if your head and maybe pistons are fucked. The worst that can happen when putting on a new belt and starting her up is you would hear a bunch of broken shit in your engine and the valves would all snap and you would cause a bunch of internal damage...this is all assuming you time it properly. If you mess up the timing, it'll probably be worse. IMO dont waste money on a new belt before taking off your head and checking for damage. If you did mess up valves or pistons or whatever, just get a new block or swap a whole new motor..my 2 cents

I'd say the opposite. Think about it logically. What's your goal at hand? What's the easiest way to figure it out?

1. You can spend $30 on a new timing belt and put it on. Try to start the car. If it doesn't start...oh well you just wasted a whopping $30.

2. You can pull off the head. Send the head to a machine shop to see if the valves are bent (rarely can you see bent valves w/ the naked eye). you'll have to buy new oil, coolant, head gasket, intake gasket, etc....which will cost you more than the price of just a belt. And you'll actually STILL have to buy a belt anyway.

just put the new belt on, see if it starts. If not, you need a new motor.