Dush board lights and gauges start flickering

Could be the battery. Jump it with another car and see if it stops. Ford put the security in the Instrument panel for a few years. This flickering could be the reason in shuts down after a couple seconds.

Problem could be a bad oil pressure sensor or the oil pump is failing. A mechanical oil pressure gauge needs to be hooked up to verify actual oil pressure. Problem could also be a bad stepper motor in the instrument cluster that drives the gauge.

check your door controls, they are known to short out. When you try to boost it after it has died, have you disconnected the battery for a few minutes first? Had this problem with an 02 envoy when the temp dropped below -20

check all your grounds i no someone had similar problems and it worked for him

is it the lights of the gauges dont light up or the gauges dont work period? if they dont light up then check the bulbs that are behind the gauge cluster and they could be burnt out i have the flickering prob with my ac hvac controls and half the lights on my gauges dont light up due to bulbs being burnt out i just havent spent the money to get some blue leds to put in there

Sounds like the voltage regulator in the alternator is bad. Take the alternator off and have it tested (for free) at a parts store.

it could be your IAC valve

Battery is weak.

I had the same problem some time ago, lights would go on and off, odometer appeared to stop counting at times rpm gauge would work and then not... power steering would off and on work and head lights would blink on and off when in driving light mode (off position).. The fix for me was I had to have the dash computer replaced (about $500). After doing this around 50k miles ago all the gremlins seem to have remained gone.. Hope this helps