My daughter bought a 2002 Daewoo Lanos. The timing belt broke. Did the valves get ruined on it? Is there a way to tell besides removing the heads? Help!!
You can check if you have an interference engine here: http://www.gates.com/part_locator/index.cfm?location_id=3598&go=Interference
If you do then most likely the motor is shot.
The standard CT response is to look at the Gates web site and see if they list the engine as interference or not.
A pratical approach is to answer the question can you turn the crankshaft by hand through a complete revoultion ? What happend when the belt broke? did the car just die or was there any violent lock-up activity.
On a very non-interference engine you can try to start the engine and the engine cranks very fast and easy. On some engines that are classified non interference there still can be damage if the event happened at high enough rpm (the valves and pistons still hit just a little)
So try to turn the engine over by hand,if you can most likely no damage,if it’s locked up expect the worst.
The 1.6 Liter engine in a US-spec Lanos is an interference engine, so it’s likely there is some internal damage from a broken timing belt. Maybe valves, maybe pistons, maybe both.
You could try removing the spark plugs and turning the crankshaft with a large wrench. If there is any resistance stop.