Ford 7.3L Power Stroke (1999-2003) :: 2002 F250 Starts Then Dies - Shut Down While Driving

My truck is an 02 F250 7.3 with 280,000+ miles on it, so I wouldn't be surprised if I might have a number of things going wrong. It runs pretty good, but is still far from 100%, at least up to my standards. So the problem has been going on for the last two or three weeks and got worse today, and there were a few things leading up to it as well. I'll start off with the first thing that happened that I think might be related. It was about 6 months ago, my buddy and I were putting my new headlights in.

It was parked in his garage and we backed it out a little bit to try and adjust them. It was sitting there idling for a minute or two and just shut off or almost stalled out. Tried to restart it and it wouldn't start, tried multiple times to no avail. It acted similar to when I had glow plug troubles when I first got the truck, it would just crank and crank, but never actually kick over and start, along with putting white smoke out the exhaust. Ended up waiting about a half hour and then the truck fired right up with no problems after that, so I didn't think much of it.

Then fast forward to last week to when something similar happened. Started it up after sitting for a few days, started right up, idled for a few seconds and then just shut off. Started it back up ran for a second and died again. Tried a third time with the same result. Fourth time fired right up again and stayed running, let it run for a few minutes and was fine. Also along with this, there was a bad squeaking coming from the front of the truck, like what a belt would sound like. I have recently replaced the belt because it was squeaking and actually got chewed up and almost shredded completely apart.

So not sure why it is squeaking again, but not sure if this could be related or not. Then took it back to my dorm room to get my stuff, and then made it the hour or so drive home from school, without issue. Even went to a few stores before I went home, and shut the truck off and started it back up multiple times, again with no issues. When I drove back earlier this week it was fine until I got there and put it in park. It idled for few seconds and then cut out for a second, but then idled back up and continued to run fine. It has done that a few times as well. So it will do it on a cold start or after already fully warmed up.

Then it got worse today. Again had trouble starting it cold, same as what I explained early. Except second time cranking it wouldn't start at all, then on the third crank it started up and stayed running. But on the drive home is when it got worse. About 5 or 10 minutes into my drive, was just cruising doing at about 45 or 50, and truck just shut off, died/stalled out. It cut out and shut off for a second or two and then started itself back up and continued on like nothing happened. It scared the crap out of me the first time it happened, I was waiting for something like that to happen, but still wasn't quite ready for it.

The truck acted just like it would before you start it, with the key on, dash lights worked and the radio still worked. It did this 4 more times in similar ways, would die and then start back up, at various speeds and at roughly 5 or so minute intervals. I decided to just keep going as long as the truck would start and stay running, hoping to make it home. It did it a fifth time and this time the truck completely shut off and wouldn't restart itself. It was hard to see, as I was watching a few different things at one time, but I think it tried to restart, I noticed the tach bounce between 200-400 RPMS and then die. So I had to pull over and then restart it, fired up and drove fine. That was about half way home, and I made it the rest of the way home without any more problems.

So obviously I'm wondering what would be causing the truck to do this? I've done some reading and have a couple ideas, but not really for sure on anything. I was thinking maybe the CPS, I think it can cause a no start issue. Could ICP or the ICP sensor have something to do with it? I was also thinking maybe something fuel related, such as fuel pressure or a bad fuel pump. Any of those sound to be on the right track?

I have the torque pro app, but not exactly sure how to use it yet, and also just got access to my Uncle's Snap-on scanner, so I ran some tests and pulled some codes. How to more utilize these tools in diagnostics. I did get a few codes, but I'm not exactly sure how they might be related. The codes are pulled are:

P0470 Exhaust Pressure Sensor Circuit Fault. Just cleaned that out as well as the tube about a year ago, but I guess could be clogged again or has gone bad.

P1274 Cylinder 4 (E) High to Low Side Open. Did some reading and figured out that this could be UVCH related. At the same time, about a year ago, did new injector O-rings as well as all new Motorcraft UVCH's, so can't imagine that one is bad. Or that one could be loose, I would have guessed it would have happened more when I first did them, not a year later, but who knows.

Also pulled P1876 T-Case 2wd Solenoid Circuit Fault. Not sure if this is related at all, but also not sure what it means either. I read that it could be ESOF system related, which I do have, but I have manual lockout hubs, so maybe that's why it throws the code.

Also a few things that may or may not be related, but I think worth noting. Ever since I've had the truck the check engine light will pop on and off sometimes. It will do it on a cold start or, when I first start driving and its not fully warmed up yet. It does it most when the engine is still cold, and it almost never comes on once the truck is fully warmed up, but has came on and off more frequently lately. When driving, it will only stay on for a few seconds and more often when I'm lugging the engine or at lower rpms, and will commonly shut off if I let off the throttle.

I don't think it really comes on at higher rpms. I also have a slight oil leak in the valley of the engine, seems to maybe be coming from the front of the motor. Nothing too serious, leaves a small puddle where I park, loses enough to be at the add mark, a little before an oil change. Changed the oil about 1500 miles ago and have been able to notice a slight drop in oil level. Also I have changed the fuel filter in the last 500 miles.