1st gen temp gage - stopped working

I've skimmed other threads and many folks point to sensors or thermostat. The difference here is that it worked intermittently for some time - all I had to do was smack the console face with my fingers and it would spring to life. Seemed like a short. The last time I smacked it, it wouldn't come to life, leading me to believe I finally dislodged the connection.

Has anyone else experience this?

The fact that I was able to get it to work over a six month period leads me to believe its local to the instrument cluster. Is there a separate connector for that gage or is it a harness?

Has anyone seen the actual gage go bad?

 

When I pulled my gauge cluster, IIRC, there were 2 large harness plugs that plugged into the back of the cluster.