bad valve seals or plug tubes

Do you have oil on the part of the plug that goes in the engine or is the top part covered? If it is the part that goes into the engine, do you see blue smoke from the exhaust?

The end that goes in the engine has oil on ait. not sure about the smoke. car hasn't been driven in a year but I'm pretty sure it has some since the number four plug is oil fouled. its been run at idle since then and revved a little just to charge the battery

If the plug is oil filed, it could be rings, valve seals... Replace the plugs and see if there is blue smoke coming from the exhaust. If there is, we will need to do a compression test.

ok, so I changed the valve cover gasket and plugs which solved the oil fouling of the plugs.ran the car repeatedly and checked the plugs to make sure the condition was gone.cut the cat out for replacement and disconnected the 02 sensors since they are fouled.the car is rich misfiring. when you run in there is a lot of unburned fuel. ran the car for 20 mins to try and rule out an ect issue. car was slow to warm up and cooling fan didn't come on.car was slightly under temp. but I don't think the ect would cause this condition. there is no blue smoke. even without the cat.

I don't know why, but this just showed up in my mail. Sorry it has been so long. Have you had any luck with the issue?