As someone above mentioned, there is a million reasons the check engine light will come on. With my 97 LS it came on once because of an emission issue that cost next to nothing to fix, and the last time it came on it was because I needed to change the intake manifold gasket ($750), which has now gone bad again after only 20k miles and 12 months. My advice, if you're not mechanically inclined, is go pay the $70-$90 to a dealer you trust and let them check it out.
As for the flipped gas gauge needle (this has happened 3 times to me), get a small piece of wire, about the width of a paperclip, or even a bread twist tie, jam it through the hole where your trip is, and push the needle back around while the car is turned off. It works like a charm.
Lastly, I have had the battery die a few times on my Malibu (Arizona kills batteries) and have noticed that whenever the battery in the car dies, it flips the gas needle AND kills the battery in my keyless entry remote. Anyone ever heard of that before?
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