Just bought a 2008 3.0 with 118K on it.

today it randomly starting making a whining sound when I’m going 48-49 MPH. It goes away when it hit 50-51 and when I slow down to 46-47, doesn’t matter what gear I’m in or how fast I accelerate. I want to say it sounds like it’s coming from the right side but not positive

Any clue what this is and if it’s anything to worry about

 

Assume 2WD
Manual or automatic?

If it makes the noise in neutral while coasting then its tire or wheel bearing noise

 

oops sorry to not mention.

rwd auto. I’ve only heard it in drive so I may shift to neutral at 55 and let it coast to test out. I was planning on replacing the tires, front pads and rotors anyway so hopefully it’s a bad front wheel bearing

 

And just a heads up, I chased a noise that only occurred at a certain MPH......................turned out to be wind noise, not on a Ranger, was passenger side window that didn't seal properly when up all the way up
But more of a "whistling" than a whining

 

I shifted to neutral and it went away today. It’s louder upon acceleration/ keeping the same speed in that range than deceleration. I don’t understand how a transmission could go from fine to bad that fast as well as the exhaust manifold having a leak at the same tine(I also had that happen and confirmed it’s the manifold)