i don't know what i did or i it was even me was going to work yesterday made it about 1 mile down the road pulled away from the stop sign kinda felt like it didn't want to shift down so i gave it a little more peddle it came around then went about another 1/4 mile and it died went to see if i could start it up again and all i get is a click so i towed it home charged the battery just in case it was that no luck pulled the plugs and tried to turn it over and it is locked solid i don't know where or what to do now pulled the starter took it to auto zone to see if it any good and it passed the bench test

 

Welcome to the forum

If you can't turn the engine manually with the spark plugs out then engine is seized, spun main bearing, did you notice if oil pressure gauge was working and showing 0 prior to the shut down
Check the dipstick to see if there is oil in the engine, its possible the oil plug came out or oil pan got hit and a hole was made

In any case you are looking at a pull the engine rebuild or swap

 

thank you for posting i still cant for the life of me figure out how that happend i mean it was only 1 qt low that morning so i know it had oil in it but i think its the Ranger gods hate me its the 3rd one i have bought that has broken on me in less then a year of owning ...lol

 

How many miles on the motor? 1997 3.0 uses a timing belt. Hope this is not the problem of a broken timing belt?

 

3.0l Vulcan V6 does not use a timing belt
2.3l or 2.5l SOHC Lima 4cyl did

 

3.0 1997 only 200140 just rolled over

 

put it in a shop on wed morning i will post when i get the diagnosis but for the life of me i am completely clueless why it would lock up given it had oil on the stick and was running fine up to the minute it wasn't and even when i got it home it had oil on stick

 

Oil pump stopped, maybe the synchro gears pin sheared off
Oil filter failed, blocked flow
Oil pumps high pressure spring plug came out
Oil pumps filter was clogged

 

Hope it will be a reasonable fix? Please let us know the cause and solution. I do like my 1999 ford ranger a lot. Today it is use as a farm truck.
It was a good fishing/camping truck for me, just got too old, too many parts were in need to be fix. I going to run it till it can’t anymore.

Off roading the 1999 4x4 Ford Ranger it was a very capable! Handle very well.

 

shop told me that Engine was locked up and needed a new 1 got it back today with a newer Engine cost was crazy 4G and as far as getting a actual answer for why was told nothing guess i will never actually know