Bad (burned, improperly adjusted etc) points CAN cause fouling (so can other distributor ignition problems causing weak etc spark) but if it's wet oily fouling it's more likely to be oil getting into the combustion chamber(s).
Is it fouling one , more than one, or all the same?
Is the fouling wet, oily, thick black deposits, or dry black or other color deposits?
Are you getting good fat blue spark at all plugs?
 
If you"ve got a flathead engine, chances are you"ve got oil getting up past worn rings or worn cyl wall on No.1; if an OHV, oil may be coming down past worn valve guides. On OHV"s, if the oil drain holes from the head back down into the pan clog up, oil can accumulate under the valve cover and get into one or more cylinders; cleaning out the drain holes would fix that.
If you want real worries, it COULD be a broken ring or rings on No.1 (which could score the cyl wall and allow oil past), or a loose wrist pin, which could do the same thing, or even a small piece out of the piston.
On the other hand, if the engine starts and runs smoothly with a clean plug in No.1, doesn"t and hasn"t made any unusual sounds, doesn"t smoke (white oil smoke or black fuel smoke) and ignition and compression is OK, it could just be a bad plug, or a hotter plug is needed for that cylinder.
The best thing to do is have someone experienced with repairing with gas engines look and listen to it; long-distance diagnosis is mostly guesswork, and a wrong guess could be expensive.
 
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