Ya, mine was new, too and I installed it as-is and the needle jumped a bit.

I pulled it out and it had no oil or film on it from the factory. Lightly lubed with white lithium grease cleared that right up.

1950 Chevrolet 3100 (Ol' Roy)

1939 Packard Standard Eight Coupe (The Phantom) | 1956 Cadillac Coupe de Ville (The Bismarck) | 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 coupe |1966 Ford Mustang (Little Red) | 1969 Pontiac GTO (The Dishpit) I 1979 Ford F-100 | 1976 Ford F-150 (Big Red) | 1995 Ford F-150 (Newt)