Single cylinder damage is usually number 4 cylinder. The cylinder may have had a loose spark plug once in its life.

Just be glad you didn't drop $2k+ in unnecessary head work. In over 90% of the short block replacements I have done, the cylinder head suffered no damage. Upon inspection, nothing in the head was faulty. It was re-installed as is.

We all like building and tinkering, but don't underestimate how bulletproof OEM components are in a well maintained car.

 

update,

cylinder two was damaged due to a previous dropped valve, this was NOT DISCLOSED to me at the time of the sale, and it clearly "bandaged" so he could sell it. (because the head was recently redone)
=-/

 

I will always run a compression test myself for any vehicle I may buy in the future (with an ICB ). Same sort of thing happened to me, I bought my '05 from a guy before I even knew how to do my own compression test and because I drove a long way with my wife to look at the car I didn't bother because it ran fine. After driving it home and a couple weeks later I got the first misfire code that would come back only once every 2k miles or something but I never felt the misfire. Turned out that cylinder 3 had a burned valve (I later found out). Pretty sure he just cleared the code and offloaded it to me (the "sucker" in this story). No way of getting around that other than removing the head and a lot of work/$$$. Fortunately now I know that everything is A-OK from the bottom up and don't have to worry about that joker anymore. It made a "decent" deal for the car a "overpaid" for the car situation...

 

i wish it was just head work needed, my entire block is toast. and since they no longer make it, i need to find a used engine or send it away to get rebuilt =/

bye bye $6,000.00