Click behind steering wheel

Van shut down three times on my way from town (thirty minutes away). Each time I sat on side of road in van about thirty minutes because it would not start and then it started up no problem. During the won't start times it does try to turn over. During my wait, sitting in silence, suddenly something electric would kick on behind steering wheel area. Not sure what it was doing but hear some clicks. Before this day it would run-heater sometimes worked, mostly not. Those behind-steering wheel sounds started a few weeks ago but I figured it was a heater malfunction, van trying to kick it on. Sometimes heat would come on a little. I can't trust to drive it the distance back to town to a mechanic. Been Googling. Any ideas of possible cause or how much-ish best case scenario it would be to fix? So stressed out. Does it sound mechanical? Oil related? Coolant? Battery?