I have a 2007 E250 van... I was pulling a trailer with a gutter machine on it, pretty heavy,... and I started going up a hill and the engine started to sputter and miss... It then shut off... I immediately restarted the van and kept driving just a little while and it started coughing and shut off again... I pulled in to my destination and unhooked the load... My van seemed to be running smoothly just idling, so I took off and the same thing happened, spitting and sputtering, especially when going up hills,... seemed to regain it's composure on the decline or when I let of the accelerator... seems like it was having a hard time getting fuel... I read a couple forums and they stated reasons like fuel filter, fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator... Does anybody have any helpful information on what the issue might be? ... I really need to get my van running correctly for work... Thank you in advance for any advice for this problem.

 

Start with the simple things first.
When was the fuel filter last changed?