Recently my 99 Ranger 2.5L 84k Miles started burning oil and upon inspecting of the PCV valve I realized that it had no spring inside it whatsoever. When I flipped it upside down the inner piston moves completly freely with zero tension or force, however the new PCV valve had a spring inside it to keep tension on the inner piston pressing it downward towards the bottom of the valve so that gravity alone wouldn't move the check valve, but a good shaking does the job.

Would this attribute to excessive oil consumption and oil fouled plugs? I put the new PCV in and it seems to idle better, but since my plugs are all fouled I'm not 100% sure this was the cause. I'm afraid to put in new plugs for fear of fouling them before I know that I fixed the cause.

Thank you!