this is a bit of a story, ill try and go into lots of detail to steer the advise.. thanks in advance..

so i have a 99 f250 v10 with 300K. it was running fine and developed a coolant leak. never overheated much. I thought it was the heater line under the intake manifold.

I removed the intake manifold and found it was the formed line that goes from the hard line under the manifold to the heater core fitting at the firewall.

It took me a while to get the correct parts ( a couple weeks). i cleaned the surfaces (had paper towels in the intake holed during this time).

reinstalled the intake (its an aluminum, not a plastic intake). I never split the upper and lower intake. When reinstalling the alternator the + cable to the alternator touched the block for a brief second and slightly sparked. i installed al new orings on the tops of the injectors.( they stayed in the intake when it was disassembled)

i went to start the truck and it cranked for a second then stopped and wouldn't do anything else. i thought it was a battery connection as the cables had had new battery lug clamps installed and they were sketchy looking to say the least ( i live at the outer banks.. salt spray is a killer).. i replaced the positive cable to the starter, new battery clamp, replaced the ground. i also replaced the cable to the relay on the passenger fender well and the relay also.
still no crank... dash powered and the relay on the fenderwell clicked. jumped the posts on the fenderwell and still nothing. i pulled the relatively new starter and sure enough the short cable from the solenoid to the starter motor and fired. i assume it was from coolant dripping down onto it from the leak.

replaced the starter. tried to turn over the truck and it turned over very slowly.. stopping occasionally. i thought hyro lock from possibly rain as the hood was up through a rain.). so i slowly bumped the starter over in short bumps. after a few revolutions it was turning over normally.

it would crank but not start. it would occasionally stumble and almost start. but would never actually run.

i checked all the coils and one had the plug off, so i reinstalled it. i am getting 38 psi fuel pressure, checked by fuel pressure gauge at schrader.

it seems like timing is off, it sputters and tries to start. it has started and ran for a few seconds but is knocking and missing. then shuts off.

so the last thing that is happening, is now if the key in in the run position, we get power for about 4 seconds, something clicks then we loose all power at the dash and if running the truck cutts off.

when i turn the key i get the check engine light and it cutts off when cranking.

i tried to scan, but the scanner powers up but will not connect.

any ideas???