I am looking at a 1991 ford ranger to get me through winter, it is 4wheel drive with the 2.9l v6, claims to have 46k miles but i doubt it. Is there anything i should be worried about with this truck, I live in wisconsin so rust is a given but I have heard about the 2.9ls having cylinder head problems. How could I check for that and is it that common? Or anything else to watch for? It is also a automatic.

 

Welcome to the forum

The 2.9l did have noisy lifters but they ran fine that way, just noisy, lol
Yes, if overheated the heads would crack........................so don't overheat it
If you start it up and see white smoke it has a cracked head
4.0l OHV was the 2.9ls big brother and had the same head issues

It will have an A4LD automatic, used in Rangers from 1985 to 2011, a good transmission as far as automatics go, it got full solenoid control in 1995 and was renamed 4R55E, then 5R55E in 1997/8
Check fluid, of course

4x4s had Auto Hubs back then which were OK but needed to be serviced, hopefully it has Manual hubs by now, popular change
Electric 4WD system needs to be shifted from 2WD to 4Low once a month, don't have to drive it just shift it sitting in the driveway, this keeps the brushes in the motor clean and the gears lubed
The electric shift motors on the back of the transfer case did fail, but are not too expensive new, and they can be rebuilt