So this morning I went to start up my truck to leave and it start up fine, i pulled up alittle then reversed alittle and when I did that it started to make a loud knocking noise like a banging, then it started to shake excessively. It was running find yesterday. Before this it would make noise nut not as loud and would start up, die, start up, die then finally stay started. Its a manual and has no fuel injection. I have no idea what it could be someone please help.

 

Welcome to the forum

I assume its a Ranger but need the YEAR??
Also need the Engine size
2.0l 4cyl
2.3l 4cyl
2.8l V6

Those were the non-EFI gasoline engines in Rangers

Running fine yesterday but not today is the definition of a problem in a vehicle
A loud banging/knock could mean a rod bearing has failed

Has the oil pressure gauge ever fluctuated?
How many miles on the engine?

 

it has 154000 miles and it is a 1988, 2.3 liter engine. I bought it two months ago and it was leaking hell of alot of oil since then so I add some quite frequently. It runs through oil so I constantly look at the oil gauge.

 

Well if its got a leaking rear main seal, oil comes out by bell housing, rear main seal is the only place that can leak "alot" of oil, then it may have run dry once or twice, so bearing finally gave out

Valve cover and oil pan gasket leaks are gravity leaks, so can leak pretty bad but wouldn't be considered "alot", quart a week
Rear main seal can be a quart a day

Generally a mechanic can ID a bearing knock pretty quickly
With engine idling you can pull 1 spark plug wire off at a time and if the knock noise goes away or drops dramatically you have a bad rod bearing in the cylinder with no spark
The rod knock noise is made louder by a cylinder firing

150k miles is not much for a 2.3l lower end(bearings) 400k is normal time to think about a rebuild, so its not mileage related

When engine is stone cold
You can remove fan belt from crankshaft pulley
Then start engine, you can ONLY RUN IT for 1 minute with no water pump
Engine bay will be very quiet with no fan
See if you can localize the noise better, remember 1 MINUTE, you can repeat test as much as you like AFTER engine has full cooled off again, but 1 minute is usually plenty of time