[keithwicks]

Mike
I have the same meter and it had an intermittent fault that drove me mad for a year. One day it would work; another day it would be faulty. The fault showed as insufficient and varying deflection when testing the low-ohms range. But, on removing the meter from its leather case, all would be well again. The change occurred because I unplugged the meter leads to make it easier to remove the meter from its case. This caused the PCB to bend slightly and disturb a dry solder joint. In my case, the dry joint was between a flexible wire and the PCB – the grey wire between the terminals in the left-hand bottom corner of your picture. This fault was impossible to see, but I discovered it by pressing on the joints one after another. Suddenly the needle deflected properly again. All is well now that I've resoldered the joint.
So, if that meter is still sitting on a shelf waiting to be repaired, you could check the various connections made using flexible wire, which happens to be difficult to tin properly.

Keith