65 MF 135 Fouling spark plugs with oil

I have a 65 Massey Ferguson 135 with Z145 gas engine, it has been fouling spark plugs for a couple years and really got bad recently.
I checked compression, 140 on all 4 cylinders. I only need this small tractor for cleaning manure out of a barn with small opening, and raking hay as I have another tractor. It gets little use since I got the diesel to mow and bale . My question is could I get by with removing head and having it reworked, and removing oil pan and could I replace sleeves and pistons and rings with out splitting tractor? I know two stage clutch was replaced when I got it about 12 years ago. I have no other issues with tractor. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Before spending the bigger bucks, I would change the oil and filter to 10w30 synthetic, then using one step hotter
plugs, I would work it hard for a day doing real drawbar or tillage that loaded the engine into the governor. With
good compression, the effort to clean it up without drastic measures is worth it. Jim

Thanks Jim, I have been using straight 30w oil, I thought synthetic was too thin and would run right through it. Have you tried this before with good results? Thanks

Yes, you can do an in frame repair. It's not fun, and takes a lot of patient cleaning, but it can be done. One thing really difficult to do though is get the rope rear main seal in. In fact, I don't think it can be accessed on that engine with the flywheel on.

What have you tried to remedy the plug fouling? Unless it's down on compression and really consuming oil, you might try a few things first.

Is the ignition system in good repair? Hot spark, good wires, timing set and distributor in good repair, the highest heat range plugs you can find will help. There are also "non foulers", threaded extensions to space the plugs out away from the oil. They work, but only as a last resort.

The fuel system, the fuel needs to be clean, the carb adjusted and working as it should, the air cleaner serviced (there is a wire mesh inside the canister that needs to be cleaned and is often overlooked). Running too rich can also foul plugs, and washes down the rings, contaminates the oil.

Speaking of oil, oil that is dirty or gas contaminated, wrong viscosity, or over full will greatly contribute to fouling. Using 15w-40 diesel oil is popular. If you are the only one using the tractor, might try running the oil about a quart low. That can make a big difference, especially if it leaks out the rear main.

The cooling system, one of the best things to control oil consumption is keeping the engine up to temperature. A 180* thermostat may help.

The engine itself, have the valves been adjusted lately? I know it's quite a job getting the cover off, but might be worth it. While the cover is off, the crankcase vent tube can be cleaned out, and the carbon cleaned from the cover. In severe cases, the top end can carbon so bad the oil can't drain down. That engine is not known for that happening, and very little oil comes up to the rockers, but if you do clean it out, vacuum it as it is scraped, try not to let any go down in the crank case.

Hope this helps, let us know.

Rear crank seal is not rope, but a five bolt lip seal. Two bolts are through the rear main cap from the front, and other three need the flywheel removed first. There are two grooves on the main cap sides that are filled with rope/Permatex originally, if cleaned correctly silicone RTV works well there also.

Synthetic oil stays as oil at much higher temps. it doesn't burn to carbon on the plugs. The thinner more aggressive detergents and dispersants in the synthetics can assist in freeing up rings. The small cost of this effort is worth the possible failure of the change. Good luck. Jim

I had a MF35 that fouled plugs and to buy a little time I put in a hotter plug and used plug extensions that kept it from fouling. Eventually I overhauled it but at the time it was getting used a lot. I don't know how long it would have worked fine with limited use.

is the engine using oil ? .could be bad valve guides . is the engine getting up to temp. thermostat might be stuck open . is air cleaner clean lots of things to check before over haul

Jim, I've seen oil changes do wonders for oil burning.

Many years ago I bought a 71 Cheyenne PU with a 350. It was a real oil burner, I found out after buying it.

I just gave it a few oil changes, didn't go with synthetic but used Castrol 10w-30. Went through the carb, put in an HEI distributor, fixed the leaks, a little TLC, and the oil burning stopped! Drove it many more miles on that engine.

Friend of mine has a 50 massey he just
uses for tilling gardens. He uses
synthetic oil. And plug wire jumpers.
Hasn't fouled a plug un in years.

(quoted from post at 00:55:20 02/09/19) is the engine using oil ? .could be bad valve guides .

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Valve guides! First thing I'd check. Sounds exactly like my 65 gasser, especially if it's fouling 1 or 2 plugs way more than the others.

Thanks for good information. You mentioned rear crank seal, would I have to remove it, I was hoping to leave crank in and just replace from there up? I will try these other suggestions first, I never knew about plug extensions, or synthetic oil, and I was going to kit the carb and clean air cleaner, and change points, Thanks again for info.

Can you say where to get extensions, or plug wire jumpers?? I never knew they existed, but I do remember now dad used to raise plug wire connection up from plug to make our 9N stop missing. Funny how you remember these things, it just took this advice to jolt my brain.

40 or 50 straight weight oil. Coolant temperature should be 195F .

140 lbs of compression... was that a dry test or a wet test. That is a lot of compression and suggests maybe the oil is coming from other places.. If all cys are 140,, maybe the valve guides are worn and leaking badly. Tractor will smoke a bunch when first starting due to accumulated oil from sitting.

It was a dry test, I will try a wet test tomorrow Thanks