Glad to here you got her fixed and it sucks when your away from home. Want it done right, you gotta do it yourself, the dealer is not gonna ask a veteran mechanic to change plugs so the youngest guy still learning is gonna do it. Thats how electrical connectors under the hood get misteriously broken tabs!

 

Live and learn I guess. Curiously, today, I visited the sales department at the Ford dealer that last installed the plugs and was threatening to buy a brand new truck off the lot (for the company I work for) and happened to mention to the salesman about my little problem. And, wouldn't ya know it, after a week of no-call-back I recieved a call from the service department... just nice as could be, and wanting to "make it right".
I also confronted the Dodge dealership here. I still think they pulled the valve covers and caused the leak, but I wont get any farther on that one. I offered to take the service manage outside and let him listen to the engine for any sign of a "tick". Of course he denied, so I politley told him that he had mis-diagnosed my truck, and it (in my opinion) should be his shops' responsibility. He agreed that they had missed the cause of the "tick", and mis-diagnosed my truck, and offered me a free oil change to make it right.. pathetic.
Lesson learned... I wont ever get another service done out of convience, and I sure as heck wont think that a "tech" will always do it right.
The heck of it is... when my truck was in the Dodge dealership getting new exhaust manifolds put on to "cure" the tick for a whole week, I borrowed my buddys' Isuzu Hombre and the fuel pump went out... so I replaced it. MY cost (with a decent discount) was $365.00.