I haven't really noticed too much smoke, but my oil smells like gas and it ticks a lot if I don't keep it topped off. I still do a change about every 2-3 months just to keep it clean, but it's still consuming more than it should, and when I drain the pan it always seems pretty black to me. I'm still getting around 26 mpg with it, and I haven't noticed any real loss in power since I got it, but it's burned oil since I got it, so hey that's redundant.

Just want to get some opinions on the scale of repairs.

2 questions:

I'm assuming a compression test would be the first order of business, but what will this tell me exactly?

And is it possible to check the condition of the seals/rings from the top down, i.e. removing the cover and rocker arm assembly, or does the whole head have to come apart?

I'm still a novice, but so far the repairs I've done myself have been pretty easy due to the simplicity of the design, so I'm just weighing my options.

It's a '94 2.4l with 136,000 miles on it.

Thanks