When my alternator died my fuel guage did a 360 and the needle is now below the rest peg. My husband who is legally blind wants me to go down bumpy roads to jar it above the peg. I told him I did not think that would work. Can it be fixed somehow?
Almost anything can be fixed, but I doubt that the bumpy road method will work. It may just cause some more problems instead.
I doubt if it can be repaired.
I suspect that the mechanism that moves the needle is mechanically busted. The mechanism is probably a D’Arsenval movement, a set of windings rotating on a spring loaded armature inside permanent magnets. These are adjusted for low and high range with “stops” that physically stop the armature. If you blow the armature past the “stop”, which it sounds like you did as a result of a sudden spike, it becomes mechanicaly retained there. The only fix is to actually open the gage, unrestrict the armature, repair the (probably broken) spring, recalibrate the movement, and readjust the stops. The instrument cluster is simply not designed to accomodate this level of repair.
By all means try the bumpy road method. You’ve nothing to lose. But if it doesn’t work the only solution would be to replace the instrument cluster.
Sorry.