94 ranger 4.0

I've got a young man who works for me and he had a t bone accident that ruined his 1995 ranger body, great running 135000 mile 4 cylinder

He borrowed the money from me to buy a 1994 4.0 4x4 that a guy drove home got up the next morning and it would not start, the guy put new wires on and gave up,
It turns over good without strange sounds, oil and water are safe,

It sounds like it jumped time to me,
If he can get the 4.0 running, it will save him a lot of headaches changing a 4 cyl into a six cylinder truck

Anybody here have an issue with the timing chain on the 4.0, or maybe loss a tooth off a distributed?

I have not owned a Ford since my 1970 mach 1, after a few years it got bad at jumping time, but that was 35 years ago

Just hoping someone might have a starting point