Looking at a 93 ford ranger and am curious. Are the heads aluminum or steel? I know it seems like a dumb question, but new to the fords.

 

Cast iron/steel

Duratec 2.3l DOHC 4cly is all aluminum, Rangers got it in 2001

 

Truck overheated once, so I may be safe with no damage to the head?

 

Ford's 2.9l and 4.0l heads had a tendency to crack when over heated, just once
3.0l didn't have that issue, but...........

Heat causes metal to over expand, which is why head gaskets blow from overheating, the metal ring, between head and block, sealing the cylinder gets crushed.
And because of the over expansion any head can crack.

Yes, aluminum expands 7 times faster than metal(cast) so have to be careful with aluminum heads

 

So I may be ok with the steel head wont be sure until I pull the head and see what happened. The guy selling it said he drove it and it got hot and started to run like garbage so he pulled over and called a tow truck. Just trying to find some facts out before I think about buying it. Thanks for the help!

 

Well it should still run.
And it is OK to test drive it, just be quick about it, under 3 minutes.
Test trans and general ride.

If it doesn't start then there are other problems.
Blown head gasket or a cracked head won't prevent engine from running, overheat will and can cause other damage because the oil temp also overheats.
Price a used 3.0l, Ranger, Mazda B-3000 and Taurus-Sable all used the 3.0l vulcan engine, and the block and heads will work with your oil pan and intake

 

It starts (hard), but I'm thinking that there is so much coolant in the cylinders and on the plugs that it has a hard time staying running or idling. Alot of coolant in the oil. Can actually see externally on the head where coolant is blowing out as well.

 

Coolant in the oil will cause rusting if it has been sitting awhile, judgement call on that and bearing damage from coolant.

 

Just happened last week. So I may be ok. I may drop oil down the cylinders and hope everything may be ok. Unless I just change the engine.

 

Then you should be OK, but no crystal ball here, lol.
Best guess

 

Thanks for the help. Should see more as I disassemble it.