#1 cylinder not firing

[Ktroy]

My corolla ran perfect and didn't really have many problems except burning some oil.. but yesterday it just decided to run on 3 cylinders. I can pull this plug wire and it runs the same. I don't know if this means anything but there was some oil on the plug wire so somehow oil is leaking down there.. but I think that is a different problem?
I changed the plugs wires and cap.. I can pull the #1 plug and see it spark when turning over the car. It seemed to have good compression as it spit loudly when it ran for 2 seconds without the spark plug in.
I did all this outside the auto parts store but had to drive it home on 3 cylinders. It was smoking super bad untill it got warm. Wonder what would cause this?

Any ideas why this problem would happen so suddenly? Fuel injector bad maybe?

edit: 4AFE 1.6 with 3spd auto

[iToaster]

Oil by the spark plug points to a bad spark plug tube seal. I'd recommend buying new tube seals and a valve cover gasket (they're typically sold together) and replacing them. Oil by the plug can cause it not to fire.

[Ktroy]

0 compression in #1 cylinder
Blown head gasket and possibly burnt valve. Are the ebay head gasket sets any good? Any tips on pulling the head on this car?

Thanks

edit: Any brand water pumps to avoid? Rockauto seems to have cheap prices.
AISIN
HYTEC
A-1 CARDONE
BECK/ARNLEY

Any good/bad things about those brands?

[speedy25]

Do a leakdown test while the engine is still together. Doing that will ensure your diagnosis AND while testing the other cylinders you will know what you really need to do to get it back running well.

I've bought gasket sets from gaskets-4-less that were pretty good quality. If you dont like that I've always done well with Felpro.

-SP

[fredricktflail]

Leak down test is a combustion leak tester right? I'd do that and a compression test on the number 2 clyinder also to see if it blew between them, also do 3 and 4 to see how much psi they read. A burnt valve can cause no compression but so can a valve not sealing right or being stuck open. A crack in the combustion chamber could also cause no compression along with rings.

[speedy25]

Its a combustion chamber leak tester to see how much leakage at TDC when theoretically there should be none, and by using your ears you can hear where the leakage occurs.

All the symptoms frederickflail mentions might in an extreme case cause no compression but typically makes it low. A combustion chamber crack would typically "vent" into the cooling system, but so could a head gasket leak.

I've had a number of people come to me with cars that dont run where they have been told they need a valve job to make it better, and in ALL cases, it was proven the valves were good. There was another problem and I was able to take care of the problem correctly.

I mention the test so you have a good idea what the condition of the head and cylinders are BEFORE you disassemble.

-SP