bad piston rings? compression question

[originalsin]

ok so my headgasket is leaking on the outside, almost positive not leaking on the inside because i never really blew any smoke. anyways i start disassembling shit, get the turbo mani off, came covers. then im turning the motor over by hand and im hearing this hissing. i investigate more... if i compressed a cylinder all the way it would leak out in like 3-5secs. now im kinda a noob when it comes to this, so how long should i be holding compression? everything is stock, its a CA18DET. it just seems like its leaking out so quick. i mean i know they arent total seal rings but is it supposed to hold for longer? it seems to be the same with every cylinder.....

if i just pull the head, will i know if i have bad rings but like scoring on the cylinder walls or anything?

[Project_Slipangle]

just do a simple compression test and be done w it. itll tell ya real quick. its normal to have a compression loss of like 0-4/5%

[jdm_s14_zenki]

or a leakdown test. check ur spark plugs for oil. could either be piston rings, head gasket or valve seal leak or even a bent valve sticking open. but u say it holds compression for a few seconds..

[dopeassjackson]

even if you take the head off you may not see how bad the rings are. i had 55% leak by on my SOHC when i did a leakdown test. i bought the car like that and had no idea it was like that. put the car back to gether and to a comp and leakdown test.

where do you hear the air leaking from? the exhaust, intake or in the oil fill hole? if you hear it in the oil fill hole then its your rings