Bad valve guides or piston rings?

[Green7mgte]

Originally Posted by free_couch

the valves in cylinders 3, 5 and 6 have heavy oil/carbon deposits. I also noticed that the spark plugs from these cylinders were covered in oil as well. I know my engine had been burning a little oil on startup, good cylinder compression: cylinders 1-6: 170,170,182,175,180,180. (note the higher compression on the cylinders that have heavy oil/carbon deposits)

tsrm says you can expect a varation of up to 14psi between cylinders. (please correct me if im wrong)
valve guides usually present themselves with smoke on startup / deceleration
Hows your #3 valve cover gasket.
Its hard for me to give you a definite answer, I really never fiddled with my valves first hand.
with your car at idle can you see bubbles oozing out around your spark plugs?