I am a new owner to a 2000 ranger 4x4 with 3.0L V6 and trying to grow my experience working on cars. I have blue smoke coming out of my exhaust mostly upon start up. When I had a shop do an inspection they told me I needed a new head gasket or new engine which was insane considering when I asked them to preform a compression check they said it was a waste of time. Took my car home and did a compression check myself, nothing looked out of the ordinary with the spark plugs and each cylinder got up to compression (between 145-155). So it seems like the head gasket and the piston rings are good from my understanding, I replaced the PCV valve as a cheap hail mary but so far no luck. My next guess is valve stem seals that are causing the oil leak, but am looking for more possible options for diagnosing. Thanks