Freeze plug on front driver's side of block weeping.
Never changed one before - either in or out of the car. Access looks best from the bottom, as headers and PS pump are in the way from above. I'd rather not go the StopLeak route, if possible.

Got plenty of tools, just not sure if I should be doing it. Any ideas/thoughts for a freeze plug noob?

Thank GOD your leak is on the front. Very doable for shade tree mechanics. Use a big straight blade screwdriver or chisel and punch one edge of the leaky plug. It will start to pivot, and then you can grab the opposite side of the plug with some Channel Locks, give it a yank, and the hard part is done. Get your new plug (I like brass), and find a socket that fits inside the plug. Put some Permatex No.1 (hardening) around the edge of the new plug, put the socket in the new plug and tap the socket with a hammer until the new plug is about 1/8" below the face of the block. Let it dry and refill your coolant and you are done!

I took a look at it this evening. If I remove the front left tire and wheel well liner, access should be easy. Guess I'm going to Napa tomorrow for a brass plug, Permatex, and maybe a cooling system pressure test set (can't really have enough tools, can ya? ). Thanks for the help.

Rubber expansion plug. Works well when you cant get a driver or hammer in there.

Lots of people say the rubbers are junk.I had them in one block for at least 10 years.I started using the solid ones that tighten in like the rubbers.A lot of the newer cars you cant get to the plugs unless you do a ton of RR work.Most people didnt want to pay say 200 bucks for that.The solids I installed were in for years and never had any problems.Just clean the hole real good.I use a piece of fine sand paper then brake clean.Rocky

Picked up a freeze plug kit today. Pressure tester borrowed from A-zone. Found leak. Thought it was on the driver's side. Nope. Just coolant migrating around the oil pan rail from the passenger's side. Coming from aft freeze plug on passenger side - right in front of oil filter. Luckily reached it through the gap between the frame and fender liner. Factory block heater in lieu of freeze plug. Got it out okay. Crappy O-ring. Tried test fitting the new freeze plug in the hole with a socket and various extensions. No go. Can't get enough swing on a hammer to pound the freeze plug to start - even with the oil filter removed. Want to avoid the rubber plug method. Gonna try making a tool tomorrow from a length of household plumbing pipe (my erstwhile cheater bar) with the end cutoff at an angle to fit flush on the plug and hammer on the end that extends below the frame just past the LCA. Had one today, but the angle wasn't quite right.

FWIW, no sediment in the jacket as far as I could feel and cylinder walls looked nice and clean even though the coolant was probably the factory fill.

I don't know Durangos, but is there a plastic fender liner inside the wheel well that you can remove? Maybe with the wheel taken off and the liner removed you can get a better shot?

If you cant get it try the solid expandable plugs.The are like the rubbers but totally solid.Just install and tighten down the nut.Ive used them a lot at work.Simple and easy and a few are still working even after 4 or 5 years.I have the tool to install plugs and on a lot it still dosent work as they are buried.Rocky

I used the rubber exapandable one pictured above and it worked just fine without failing. I cleaned the hole really good, and hit it with some sand paper. I also took it as a chance to flush the coolant passages. Never had a problem with the rubber one.

The rubber one should be okay in normal use. If you rev the engine high racing or towing, you run the risk of popping it out and dumping coolant on the ground in front of the rear wheels...

At normal rpm's it should be fine, I'd put a wrench on it once in a while to make sure it is still snug.

Briefly thought about the hard rubber type, but my wife wouldn't know if the car was overheating if the Lord himself came down and told her. Plus, with my little helpers, ages 7 and 5 in the car, she'd be none too pleased to be stuck on the side of the road.

Pic of the factory block heater removed.
Hole is wire brushed and sanded...

The tool I had to make to get the driver to sit flat on the new plug because it comes up from the below the frame rail through a gap in the LCA.

Looks nice and accessible. I would have pulled the engine and replaced all, but I am used to that.

Convenient that it fit the inside of the plug with a little room to spare...

Plug and flush with block. The Napa plug kit came with a raft of plugs. The 1-3/8 plugs were all a bit deeper flange than the factory ones in the block. They made the factory plugs look chintzy by comparison. Use RTV silicone black as a sealant. Letting it cure for the 24 hours that the directions say to wait. Fill, flush, and fill tomorrow and pressure test with the tester from A-zone...

I'm sure anyone else would've had this done in less than a few hours. But my girls were in and out of the garage all day yesterday on their scooters and bikes, and of course leaving them in the way when they swap rides. They're greeat little helpers; they turn any 1 hour job into a 4 hour job...

Its going to go in at an angle so dont go crazy and use the 5 lb'er on it unless you know you are seated square. That is a good shot at it, the ones under the exhaust are a bear. Looks like that tool can be rotated a little to compensate for any cocking of the plug, gotta good chance!

16 pound on my 99 since I got it in 2000.Never any problems.Rocky