A car I'm working on had a lot of antifreeze build up in #1 cylinder when it blew the head gasket. I tried starting it a few times before I knew what happened, and I want to know if there's a way to check internal damage to the rod/piston without pulling the whole motor.

It seemed to turn over fine when I was trying to start it.

 

Compression test. I doubt you bent a rod from having the sarter crank it over. If a cyl was full of water it would have just stoped cranking.

 

You could pull a head and see if it (victim piston/rod) comes up as high as the others on that side. If its the same its probably ok. If its lower, then its bent. You could also check this with a piston stop tool - the kind that threads into the spark plug hole.

 

it could be very hard to do this way...and bent rod isnt a ton shorter then a normal one...compression test is best way... or pull motor apart

 

Next to no real way short of disassembly and checking with the appropriate tools. A compression test is not reliable unless the bend is fairly severe; a 'tweaked' rod can still fall into the acceptable range of deviation.

 

Ya, its definitely not the best way to do it. Its an option though.

 

Unless it starts right up, like mine did. Bent the hell out of it!