Buying a 91 Talon TSi AWD Turbo Automatic. Engine problem diagnosis?

[s1mpsons]

So I found a smoking good deal on a 91 Talon TSi AWD Turbo Automatic. I checked it out in detail yesterday. The undercarriage is rusty, but the body is in good shape just minor dings, and dents, but def no frame damage or body work. Compression test came out good ~150psi in each cylinder.

The 3 things the worry me are as follows:

1. 4th Gear/overdrive won't engage. (Owner blames a faulty newly-rebuilt TCU, but I think I could be either bad End Clutches, or a bad OD button connection). Perhaps the best play here would be to swap a 5spd. How much does that run for parts? How many hours would it take?

2. When pulling the plugs out for the compression test, the plug pulled from the cylinder in the middle on the passenger side was very oily. The "X" below shows the bad plug location. Also, during the compression test, there was a weird popping noise from that same cylinder. It occurred during the ignition cranking when testing every cylinder (except the one the popping was coming from). THIS IS MY NUMBER 1 CONCERN. What does this mean. Please help me diagnose the potential problem.

Rear of Car
[ 0 X 0 0 ]
Front of Car

3. Lastly, and probably the simplest to fix is the rusted suspension which seems likely to break during performance driving (also, shocks are blown all around)


Thanks,
Jake

PS: Also, any tips or general comments about buying this particular make and model would be helpful. It should be noted I plan on using this car for track, TT, and autoxing.

 

[lAsErfWd]

bad valve seals and a fouled park plug due to oil leaking in maybe.

 

[lAsErfWd]

also the 4th gear problem may just be 4th gear is bad and youll need rebuild

 

[Pozobyt]

I had the same tranny problem in a Celica I had, I ended up needing a rebuild. Take it to a transmission shop and they can pull transmisison codes.

You probably have oil leaking onto your plugs due to a bad valve cover gasket, I had this problem in my 2nd Gen.