I'm looking for some input on diy fixing to save some cash on my 05 Ford 500 limited AWD. Also there's the fact that the dealer is booked out for a month so Im trying to get it done sooner. I hadn't been able to work on it much before when I was in an apartment but recently bought a house, so now I can get down and dirty.

There are 2 main problems, I think. The main concern is that it will rev up and have power when it's not supposed to sometimes. This happened before a few years ago, a local mechanic pretty much did a tune up and replaced some sensor. At that time it had gotten so bad that you could floor it and it would go 15 mph. At the time dealing with a legal issue and I'm not sure exactly what was done by the mechanic, just that it seemed to work and was about 1600 in costs. It's been fine for a while and now it's in the beginning stages of doing it again. About a month ago after driving for hours in 105 degree weather it had died altogether in reverse. Started back up again and hadn't happened since. Not sure if that's related but my guess is it was.

After more research I think I'll try removing and cleaning the throttle body as well as test the voltages on the wires going to it, go from there. Sound about right? This particular issue hasn't triggered any codes that I'm aware of.

The second issue is the instrument cluster went dark on Friday. On Saturday it's back to normal. This triggered the check engine light and the code is for the fuel level gauge on the instrument panel. I'm told by the parts store I'd need to go to the Ford dealership because of the programming on that. Is there a way to program it myself? Ive read that I possibly could take a soldering iron and strengthen the connection myself. Is that possible? It's also worth noting that this happened at the same time as extreme air moisture in my area and the car tends to hold water in it's doors.

Less important issues in my opinion are that is has an AWD malfunction. However, I'm not sure it's a real code because I know exactly when it popped on. I was going in reverse and then popped into drive while it was still going backwards. I read somewhere that could do it. I never tried to clear the code fully either. In the snow last year, traction control kicked a lot and helped, so I feel like it's working sometimes at least.

The last issue I don't feel important is the thing whines a lot after about 40 minutes of driving. It's a power steering whine. It got a lot better when I did a partial fluid flush just using a syringe and fluid. However it comes back. Also the fluid is definitely turbulent when the car is running. I plan on maybe just doing a full flush.

Tldr; reving issues / clean throttle body? Instrument cluster / absolutely need a dealer to program it?

ps I really don't know much about cars but I watch and learn from YouTube.

Thank you