A fresh engine will show between 165-185psi, but with some mileage on it you should show ~145-165psi in all cylinders. The service limit for rebuild time is 119psi - or 14psi differential from high to low. I wouldn't worry too much if one cylinder is 14psi differential, but I'd want them all to be at least 135-140psi if I wanted to keep driving it a while longer.

When you check it, warm the engine to operating temperature and let it cool just enough to remove all of the plugs. On each cylinder, let the engine make 3-5 revolutions so the gauge is pumped as far as it will go.

If one or more cylinders reads low, squirt a small amount of engine oil through the spark plug hole and retest the cylinder. If the pressure comes up, the cylinder and/or rings are worn. If not, valves or head gasket are suspect.

If you need to check the valves, you can make a leakdown tester easily, but I've never had them tell me anything that I hadn't already guessed with the compression test results and a vacuum gauge. And I don't know why anyone needs to know whether an exhaust or intake valve is bad... the head has to come off either way.

The smoking may only be valve seals. If so, the ticking can be corrected by replacing the lifter(s) at the same time as the valve seals.

Frank