I have a 1996 7.3 5 speed and sometimes when I'm driving down the road the check engine light will come on and nothing will happen but sometimes the truck will shut off the wait to start light will come on and the truck will kick back in while this is happening the battery gauge will go up and down. Any ideas of what this could be?

 

Glow plugs or Glow plug controller... is my guess... but i have no idea...

 

When the check engine light comes on, a code is set. Read the codes... probably c.p.s. related.

 

What Twinboys said, need to scan for the code... That will lead you to the issue or at least get you pointed in the right direct versus pissin in the wind...

Does the truck fire back up when it does this? Does it have a long crank or just starts back up?