So have a a 93 4.0L ranger. Got it last year with 167k miles on it. Now it has 199k well its has a blown head gasket. It’s over heating, when I turn the engine off the coolant starts to bubble up like boiling waters and starts spilling out the resivor. Well at this point I don’t know if I should fix it or junk it. My mechanic is charging me 1,200 for labor & resurfacing the heads. Or 1,500 for parts & labor. I saw a website selling a whole engine rebuilt kit for 400$ it includes
Full gasket set, piston ring set, piston set, crankshaft main bearing set, connecting rod bearing set, camshaft bearing set, expansion plug kit, oil pump and timing kit.
if I do end up fixing It should I do the whole kit or just the head gasket. Or should I just junk it what do you guys think.
HELP ME OUTTTT!!!!

 

I'm in the middle of a 4.0 OHV motor swap myself. Mine went out due to oil pump failure after starter failed but unsure of the amount of damage. Anyways, I decided to be safe and swap engines for now. I sourced a replacement for $600 with only 138K on it through car-part.com. It's a JY parts locator. The replacement engine is from same model year, just non-EGR, while mine has the EGR so swapping intake and a few other parts is needed.

I am saving mine to tear down later and see how bad the damage is. At that point, I'll decide whether or not to rebuild it. But a swap gets it back on the road quicker.

 

Welcome to the forum

A little concerned about the $400 4.0l OHV rebuild kit you found, $600-$800 is what is average
But the kit is not the expensive part, the labor to redo the block, cylinders and journals and bearing fitment is what takes time and sucks up the $$$

rebuilt engines with heads(long block) are usually $2000 minimum for any size
4.0l OHV seen here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/293617005540
Or here: https://www.jegs.com/i/ATK-Engines/059/DFE1/10002/-1

These then need to have are the other parts bolted on(oil pan, intakes, front cover, valve covers, ect...) and then engine installed, more labor $$$

Generally the "lower end"(crank. rods, pistons) are fine up to 400k miles, if yours is over 300k then a rebuilt engine might be a good investment assuming the rest of the truck can last another 400k miles, lol
If under 300k then just redoing the heads is fine to do

Just FYI
Heads gaskets do not just blow, cooling system needs to have a failure that causes overheating and thats what "blows a head gasket", or cracks a head, 4.0l ohv heads have a weak spot that will crack if over heated, same symptom as blown head gasket
So you may need to get a new head or both after they have been tested