So, long story short I moved into a place that my buddy was living at and he left me his ranger, I want to get it up and running but I have never worked with this engine.
details
2.9L 4x4 I believe it’s a 88 but not sure.

when I hook power to it and try to start, a awful sound comes from around the battery. Can’t 100% say it is because I’m working on it by myself but I’m pretty sure it’s coming from the battery. I also don’t hear the fuel pump kick on. Any tips on gathering more knowledge about the engine would be appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forum

2.9l engine is a good one
Manual or automatic?

Not much to go on

So there is a battery in it, whats its voltage?
Needs 12.3-12.8volts to work, 12.2v or under is a dead battery

If no battery then you need to get one

There will be a starter relay(solenoid) on the inner fender, the battery Positive cable is connected to one of its larger posts
This post is the 12v Power distribution point of the vehicle, all 12v power comes from here, so make sure all the wires and cables connected here are clean with no corrosion

The other larger post on this relay should have just ONE cable, it runs to start motor, ONE CABLE, its important

Then there will be a smaller post on this relay, the "S" post, it will have ONE wire connected, this comes from the ignition switch, it activates this relay when key is turned to START, and sends Battery's full AMPs to the starter motor on the larger cable
So connections must be clean or not enough AMPs can flow to Starter Motor

You can use a short Jumper wire, from Battery Positive and touch it to the "S" post, that will activate the relay and starter motor, MAKE SURE WHEELS are blocked, or vehicle can jump if its in gear
If relay just "clicks" rapidly then you don't have enough AMPs to turn starter motor, could be bad battery, bad connections or bad starter motor

Battery's Ground cables are also important to this, there is NO 12volts unless there is also 0 Volts(ground), so battery's ground cables and wires need to be clean and corrosion free, or NO AMPs

 

Also........

The fuel pump only runs for 2 seconds when key is turned on, its a safety thing

When you get the engine to crank(starter motor working) do the 50/50 test
Spray fuel into the intake
Try to start engine
If it starts and dies, then fuel delivery is the issue(or fuel itself depending on how long it sat, lol)
If it doesn't fire, then SPARK is where you need to start, and repeat 50/50 test until it does start/fire, then you can move on to fuel issues