Hope somebody has a suggestion. I just bought this truck, drove it for 2 days no problem. Drove to the store it ran just fine, no sign of an engine problem. When I went to restart it, it would not crank. Tried jumping it and it would not start
Had it towed home, I charged the battery and replaced the starter. Now it cranks fine but won’t start. Could not figure it out did initial diagnosis. Fuel, spark etc. even cleaned off the positive cable as it Needed a cleaning. No luck.
Had it towed to the dealer. They claim it was a broken timing chain and piston to valve contact. I am not a mechanic but a pretty good parts changer😀 I don’t buy their diagnose as the engine cranks fine just won’t start. No loud noises, no codes of any kind and I am not finding any metal in the oil. I did note they never did open the engine, I found no evidence to indicate they did anything other than charge me a fee.
I have had a timing chain break on another vehicle and it would not even crank.

So is my thoughts correct? or should I be looking for replacement engine or rebuild kit. Unfortunately this truck is used on the farm and I don’t have the 6k plus tax the dealer wanted.

Or if possible any thoughts are appreciated or help with a gas can and a match, which I really don’t want a pricy piece of yard art.
Thanks
Chuck.

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2003 Ford Ranger Edge 6cyl 4.0 4x4.

if the chain is broken, the cranking of the motor sounds completely different than chain intact!
pull the valve covers and see if the rockers move when cranking

Thanks for the feedback. Went to do a compression check. Guessing at least bent valves. Varied readings. Don’t recall 1,2 and 3. But 4 was at 30, 5 at 60 and 6 was hitting 120 psi. No Bueno

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2003 Ford Ranger Edge 6cyl 4.0 4x4.