I'm not sure if this is the proper forum channel but if not please feel free to correct me. I'm looking to pickup an older used truck and more and more I've been thinking about picking up a ranger. This is going to be a second car and probably not often used unless I need to go camping or haul something. With that said, I'm trying to keep the price under $5k and so I've been looking at quite a few models from the early 2000's or late 90's. What I'm really wondering is, is there anything particular I should be looking out for when purchasing one of these vehicles, any common problems besides going through the usual used car checklist. Generally all the ones within my range have 150-250k miles, is there an upper limit that I should not cross?

 

Ranger chassis are good for 400k+
Automatics are 250-300K, like any automatic
Manuals no real mileage limit

2000 and earlier 4.0l OHV were good engines
3.0l had issues 2004-2006, and they are nick named 3.slow, because they didn't have much "punch"
2001 to 2004 4.0l SOHC had timing chain issues
1995 to 2000 2.3l or 2.5l SOHC 4cyl engine were good
2001 to 2003 2.3l DOHC had issues, 2004 and up are fine