Dodge Diesel - Diesel Truck Resource Forums

Thanks. you guys nailed it( of course). I had called a diesel shop in San Rafael and they gave me the same advice--cover the hole. I had limited access to the internet and wanted to confirm with members here that it was the right thing to do. Couldn't get a reply in time but I decided to try it.
Quick ending--it worked. Fit a plug in, added oil, truck runs fine.

Whole story:
Because I had the horses I didn't want to try this while towing and jeopardize the either the horses or the truck. so I arranged for a tow truck to deliver the horses and planned on coming back to get the truck later.

What happened was, the tow truck driver Mark was a "mechanic". He arrived at the truck before i got back from starbucks' (caffiene with internet access) and he was already in the engine bay. I told him what the diesel shop suggested. He checked with a couple guys who have my engine and an hour later confirmed that it was a plan.
We were mutually motivated. He didnt want to have to make the drive (and back) over a small rough hilly curvy road to the coast, and i wasnt anxious to have my horses towed on a very difficult road by a non horseman.
I didn't know about expansion plugs, ( nor did he) and he was dubious about covering the hole instead of plugging it.
Things went wonky when he started wrenching on the high pressure side of my engine. Said he was going to try to find a same size fitting since there was an oreilleys still open so we would know what part to pick up. Now its dark. I wasn't comfortable having him wrenching on things with a cheap *** set of wrenches, especially since when he couldnt get one fitting off he'd just try a different one. My impression was that he was trying to get something off of an injector line? Something about he could get them loose but couldn't yank it off due to the angle. I tried to say we don't need to do it this way. My friend kept dragging me away from the truck. ( I know the etiquette is don't Hang over the engine bay when a guy is trying to help some poor helpless woman, just get out of his way.) I started insisting we didnt have to approach it like this. Finally he got something off and "rats", it wasnt the same size.
So we headed to oreilly's.
He was looking for an sae oil plug. I found an expansion plug and metric oil plug. He installed the plug. Added 5 qts oil. Started up the truck and oil spraying all over like a fountain. Oops, he forgot to replace the high pressure fitting. Lost about 1.5 -2 qts all over him, the engine bay, truck, windshield including the radiator and trans cooler. Sidewalk looked like it rained oil ( so much for the friendly neighborhood who gave me Internet access, offered us dinner, etc.) he tightened things down, and i drove down the hill, topped off the oil again, drove to my destination. truck runs fine except that on just a few instances it smelled like I was burning my clutch or brakes-to be continued later. Poor guy was terribly embarrased. I know he tried to cleanup the oil on the sidewalk. He did get paid an I put extra in his pocket.

Now I need to get in there and see if there are any fittings stripped that should be replaced before I am in another pinch. Replace the actUal plug. And cleanup the oil which now doesn't only coat the underside of my engine , my trailer hitch and overspray the front of my horse trailer, but is also coating everything in the engine bay. I'll be posting in a regular forum for more advice about

Everything worked out, everybody was safe, and it never ceases to amaze me how people will go out of their way to help you--more people stopped to offer help in more ways than i can say. Despite everything, Mark got us on our way safely.
Hats off to you guys too. Patdaly you have helped me out on more than one occasion. And Rebal, yuba city? My dad grew up in marysville. I'm in rio linda. I'd love to buy you a beer someday. You too Patdaly if I ever get the chance.