oil on spark plugs

Hi, been a while. my 8n gets a mix of oil and gas on the plugs and will not start, fires a little then just cranks nothing. All plugs are affected after one crank. 2 new sets tried.. the carb air inlet pipe had a little oil on the bottom of the carb. could it come from the oil in the air cleaner??. Has run perfect for years and no evidence of unsealed rings. Any ideas would be great.Still a 6 volt. I am a little old and a little lost. changed gas line and filters and put fresh gas in.. Thanks a lot.

Bob........ya aint gotta gas problem, ya gotta RING problem. Even in 1939, Ford recommended 30wt detergent. Todays multi-vis oils are even better. Recommend 10-30 or 20-40 oil. I use 20-50 'cuz of my diesel pickups. Change yer sparkies again. Recommend AutoLite 437's gapped 0.025. And while yer oil breather filter could be the culpert, its highly unlikely from yer descriptions. ........HTH, the oily Dell

My 8n used to be like that, if it didn't catch on the first or second crank over the oil would completely coat the plug and it would never never start. Temporary solution was to clean the plugs (in gas then blowing dry with air), reinstall and try to start, and repeat until motor started. Usually this was not long, the first or second crank after cleaning would see it running, and it would work just fine once it was running until I turned it off, at which time it would be necessary to repeat the cleaning if the tractor had sat too long. Oh and I put sparkplug anti-foulers on the two worst cylinders.

I used it like this for a season or so, until I heard about the MMO/ATF soak for for stuck rings, which seemed to fix it. Made the engine start normally without constant plug cleaning, and allowed me to discard the anti-foulers.

I would make sure the air cleaner does not have too much oil in it, may need a good cleaning. If iste is teoo plugged, it will act like a choke.
May be time for a compression check.

Also when was the last time you put new points in it?

Thanks Dell, I was just stumped because all the plugs fouled at exactly the same time and degree-seems odd for 4 different rings to unseal at the same time. Spark seems fine in all cyl. thought there had to be a universal cause like fouled gas.

after first fouling and spark looks good.

Thanks

thanks for the info. could you tell me about the MMO/ATF technique for resealing rings.

Did you do a spark check? Get a copy of Bruce's(VA) 75 Tips For N-Owners and read it for the simple procedure. You're fouling plugs. At least have a half tank of gas -5 gallons. Open fuel valve 2 full turns and leave it. Set throttle to about 7 O'Clock position. Leave choke IN. Crank with starter button. After a few cranks if it doesn't fire, pull choke out and crank a bit more then push in when it turns over. Continued cranking will only foul the plugs. Plugs can be pulled, cleaned, and used over so don't discard them. Star with basics -spark, fuel, and compression. You have fuel, but gas in the carb air inlet means you are flooding it out. Do you shut off the fuel valve when not in use? As mentioned, it might be time for a tune-up if it's been over 3 years, less if tractor is used a lot. If no spark present, I'd start there.

Also, as far as using any cure-all, snake-oil products like MMO and the others, why? They are all 99% mineral spirits. ATF and diesel fuel are excellent cleaners as well and all won't hurt anything internally. READ the MSDS labels on products and you will soon discover what I say is true. I did a whole list of them on the other Ford Tractor site under SAFETY forum. Yeah, those products may seem to work only because they are excellent cleaners and will loosen gunk and crud up. There is no magical cure for worn rings other than a rebuild. Postponing the inevitable may only do further damage. What's your oil pressure once tractor is warmed up and working? At idle is it below 15 PSI? If so or even less, guess what?

Tim *PloughNman* Daley(MI)

Bob, follow Tim's advice. Sorry, there are a lot of snake oil products out there. A lot of people fall for the advertisements, snake oil will not correct the problems. Do your own research on the ingredients. Most are solvents that you can buy for pennies not dollars.
Try this product, then this, then this... THEN correct the mechanical problem usually works.

Basically, you just pull the plugs and shoot two or so ounces of Marvel Mystery Oil or ATF into the bore , then let it sit a few days or weeks. Repeating several times often seems to work even better. Ring soaks are a frequent subject here, do a search and you'll find a lot more info.

"snake oil will not correct the problems"

Actually, that depends on what the problem is to begin with.
If it is just stuck rings from setting, cleaning them may help.
If there are mechanical issues then I agree. Fix them.
Trying an ATF/MMO soak is fairly cheap and worth while.
[b:013f7e5ce5]Here's[/b:013f7e5ce5] my example again.

Thank you

Thanks for all the tips and info. I will start with the MMO. Its down to 17 degrees now so I will wait a little to do the rest.

The facts speak for themselves, folks. The link shows MMO contains:

74% -Mineral Oil

25% -Stoddard Solvent*

1% -Lard

*Stoddard Solvent is defined as Mineral Spirits, for one.

Tim Daley(MI)

It's your $$$ so ATF, diesel fuel, mineral spirits, or if in a bind get yer handy BBQ charcoal lighter fluid -it's pure mineral spirits too...all will loosen up gunk and clean, but chances are you have more serious issues...

Not to be rude or a smart as#! $. But did you mistakenly put the weed eater or chain saw gas in the tank?. Seems kind of odd that all of a sudden this happened.

Are you using a thermostat ? The stock 160 degree can be swapped for an NAA 180 degree thermostat which MAY or MAY NOT help burn off goo or excess oil etc in the piston ring grooves , but a 180* should help overall .