Edit 2: I figured out this is the alignment pin on thr mounting plate hitting the PCB.
Looking at your side picture (mountes like this), that looks like one of the through hole components might be sticking through and shorting.
Can you show us what it is that was sticking up?
Also, did you measure the resistance across the coils? Heat damage will occur in the center first, so it might be fused internally even though there is no visible damage.
Edit: Also, this gap concerns me as well. Depending on how it shifts when you tighten the nuts, that pin might be shorted to ground when installed. If the alignment pin on the right was what kept it from mounting flat, that would have pulled the whole gauge to the side. And potentially closed that gap/shorted it to the case.
