what would cause this problem?

 

Pour a teaspoon of oil (motor, not olive) into a cylinder and then crank to test compression. If your compression goes up (from your original test) you likely have bad rings and if nothing changes then it's likely time for a valve adjustment. This isnt a promise of whats wrong but it helps point you in the right direction.

That little trick saved me a lot of teardown time on many 4-cycle engines.

 

thanx appreciate the input...ill try that and see how it goes