If I blow an OiL RING, what should I do? (archive)

Last week I had a new timing belt installed and 6 new Bosch Platinum +4 plugs. I gunned it down a 300 yard stretch, shifting at 6000rpm when i noticed i suddently lost power. Now my car was much louder and much slower. To make a long story short I had my engine looked at and my compression reading were as follows.

175 .. 175 .. 60 .. 175 .. 175 .. 175

I lost an oil ring on my third cylinder, my mechanic blamed it on those spark plugs. Said to much gas was in the cylinder at once, plugs made a large explosion which broke my oil ring. Is this true? If not, what could be the real cause? 220,000km on the engine, and I'm very selective as to when I beat on my engine, never shift past 6000rpm. Synthetic oil.

What are my possible solutions? My mechanic said 1200 bucks to put in a new piston and oil ring but he said other stuff in the engine may be wrong, causing me more money in the end than replacing the whole engine. His other suggestion was to put in a new engine for around 2000 dollars.

What do you guys suggest I do?

Follow Ups:

Further checking is required. Bill-H 22:33 4/01/2001 (0)
Re: If I blow an OiL RING, what should I do? jnuke 21:56 4/01/2001 (0)

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