My belt stripped while driving and, at the time, I didn't realize what was going on so I kept trying to start it. I got the car towed home and eventually found that the timing belt had stripped teeth. Bought the timing belt kit and got up to the point of needing to take the crankshaft pulley off. I noticed while I was trying to loosen the bolt using a wrench that the pulley spun with very little effort. Is that a bad sign something is wrong or is that ok for it to spin like that? It's not free spinning or anything like that but, there's little resistance and no noises either. I assumed it would be harder to spin than that, so I figured I'd ask before going any further.

 

So I decided to go further and got everything replaced, marks lined up, and put back together. It's cranking, but it's not starting. After reading around, this is an "interference" engine and the likelihood that the valves are bent are pretty high. Now I'm trying to figure out what's the next best option. Is replacing the head pretty straight forward? I'm thinking of looking around some junk yards to try and pick one up.

 

Swapping heads is relatively straight forward, since you already know how to set timing. You would need another set of head bolts or studs, assuming the Lancer's bolts are torque-to-yield. Other than that, a new headgasket and some fluids = should be good to go.
Yes, these are interference engines, so valve damage is a possibility. A compression test would let you know if there is a problem and a leak down test would confirm where.
Did you ever find out why the crank pulley was spinning? Was it spinning on the crank? Was the crank itself spinning?

 

Thanks for the info. If I can track down a scrapped head for cheap, I'll attempt it (assuming bent valves).

The crank with the pulley were spinning together when I spun it. I thought there would be more resistance to it when I spun it without the belt in place, but from what I understand, that's normal.

 

There should be resistance from the valve springs, even more if the plugs were still in.

 

Looking at the engine from the front, which one is cylinder #1? Far right or far left? Also, is there a way to tell whether the valves are bad by checking anything under the cover? I don't have the tools for a compression test. I can move the rocker arms (?) up and down on the intake side when the springs aren't compressed, but on the exhaust side, I can barely move them.




Here is what it sounds like when I tried starting it after the belt replacement: