Bolens 1050 running bad...oil in magneto box?

I have been having quite a bit of trouble with my 1050 - yesterday it was running fine to the point I could go up the drive and back on it - after running it for a while yesterday I went to start it today - started off pretty good but began to run rough, misfire and died a couple of times. After messing with it for a while I noticed a drip of oil at the bottom of the air intake pipe (on which the air filter sits) - looking at the manual it shows that the breather pipe goes into the magneto breaker box? This is situated above the points area - could water/oil crud in there affect the running of the engine like this?
I have already gapped and cleaned the points, put in a new spark plug, new plug wire (copper) and adjusted the carb to specs.

There is one other problem I am having which might be related - I cannot seem to get it to run at a slow idle - I have the idle screw adjusted to 1 1/2 turns and the idle screw on the top of the carb is backed out so in fact it is not even touching the stop. Could the idle jet be blocked?

Tractor has been sitting for some time before I got it running - so maybe the carb needs yet another clean out?

Any advice would be most appreciated.


Lee

Check your oil level.Sounds as if maybe crank case has gas in it,and making it over full.

Oil vapor could be getting on the points, you won't see it, but it will limit current, as oil is an effective insulator. Blast the points with brake cleaner, and see if spark improves.

Awhile back, I had used freeze off on a flywheel nut, After removing the [ good firing ] magneto, engine had bad knock, and after putting it on another engine, I had no spark.

I later changed points [ old ones were nice ]
and it started right up. When I closely examined the old points, I found a slight film of oil on the contacts. CRC Freeze Off penetrated so well the oil made it all the way to the inside of the breaker box, and fouled the points.

If the point plunge is worn causing this, you might consider replacing the points and condenser with one of the chips that replaces the points and condenser converting the system to electronic trigger.

Kent