Interference engine being obstructed by something. We re-timed it and it's still not spinning freely

97 Ford probe 4 cylinder. This car sat for a couple weeks before we tried to drive it again. Me and my wife are ex mechanics ourselves, but this one has us stumped. We know that an interference engine won't crank all the way over if the timing is off. My wife tried to start the car the other day, and she said it was cranking and just before it started, it felt really different like it lost all compression so she immediately stopped cranking. We thought the timing belt loosened up or the tensioner broke as these have a bulletin on bad tensioners that are supposed to be fixed under recall. We called the dealership and they said it had already been done on this car, so we re-timed it, and tried to hand crank it with a ratchet on the crank pulley, and it still only freely moves until a certain spot on number 3 and 4 pistons when they are TDC and it won't budge after that unless you go backwards to the previous piston in which it gets stuck again. So that's where we are now and we are stumped. We are trying to borrow a bore scope from somewhere so we can look at the valves, but haven't had any luck with that yet either. We really don't wanna take the head off if we don't have to, so any info or knowledge would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! -Ozzy