troubleshooting issue with starting

[stubbornornaive?]

Hi,
My ford ranger 2011 4.0l automatic has been having a series of issues, and im wondering if anyone has some insight on this.
The first problem was that it wasnt starting on occasion, until i took my foot off the brake and then reengaged the brake. that happened 3-4 times intermittently over the course of a few days.
Then, after it doing this again, after i got it started up, I noticed a clicky sound, which sounded like it coming from the lower dash/brake pedal, when i lightly depressed and released the brake (while in park.)
Then, after starting the truck, while it was running in park, foot off the brake, the engine simply died. no sputter or any indictation it was the engine itself.
Theres no dash lights/check engine light. All this in the same day. Seems to be rapidly deteriorating.
Im wondering if theres a sensor for the brake for starting in park, thats on its way out? Does the brake light switch control any mechanism around starting? Doesnt really explain why the engine turned off in park, after running fine for 10 seconds, unless theres more to this problem...
any insight?
thanks.

 

[franklin2]

Brake has nothing to do with starting. It's a literal pain in the neck, but see if you can lay in the floor and with a flashlight look under the dash and see if there are wires rubbing on the brake arm and make sure the wiring plugs under there are all plugged in. There are lots of wires going up the steering column.