I was looking at buying a manual 2000 Honda Civic SR 1.6L for cheap. The seller says a mechanic told them that one cylinder isn't working, but the car still drives. I haven't seen the car yet, but I assume this means some kind of severe compression problem in that single cylinder, and not something catastrophic like a broken rod since it's still drivable.
I'm wondering what could cause a single cylinder to be "not working" but the car is still drivable. The things I can think of are a blown head gasket or a severely burnt valve.
I'm trying to figure if it's worth me going to see. From the pictures the car looks to be in mint condition from the outside.