This paper introduces a novel intelligent sliding mode predictive fault-tolerant control method based on the Dynamic Information Exchange Coyote Optimization Algorithm (DIECOA), which is applied to a quad-rotor UAV system with multi-delay and sensor fault. First, the system nonlinearity and sensor fault are dealt with by means of interpolation transformation and system state expansion, and an equivalent system is obtained. Second, the quasi-integral sliding mode surface is used to construct the prediction model so that the initial state of the system is located on the sliding mode surface, and the global robustness is guaranteed. Third, this paper introduces an improved fault and disturbance compensation term, which effectively weakens the adverse effect of time delays and enhances the FTC performance of the system. Fourth, the Dynamic Information Exchange (DIE) strategy is designed to further improve the coyote individual replacement mechanism and speeds up the solution and convergence speed of the method in this paper. Finally, the simulation is carried out on the fault-tolerant simulation platform of the quad-rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and the results show the rationality of the method.