The gauge is powered by a CR2032 lithium coin cell battery, a common battery typically used to power TV remote controls. Unfortunately, Deere chose to seal it inside a closed unit and manufacture it in a way that makes it impossible to replace, forcing you to replace the whole unit. It’s hard to believe this isn’t just a money grab on Deere’s part.

The AUC15402 sells for around $60, but I suspect it costs less than $5 to manufacture. So if you do it yourself, you’re out sixty bucks, and Deere is $55 richer. If you pay to have it installed, I’m guessing it costs significantly more. So, if you own a John Deere lawn tractor, expect to be on the hook for at least $60 every 2 to 3 years.

Since I just replaced the unit in my tractor, I thought I would describe the process here in case someone else wants to give it a try. It’s a pretty simple process, and the only hard part is removing the old gauge.

Here’s what you need to do:

• Disconnect the negative battery connection. To do this, use a 10mm wrench or socket wrench. You can place the disconnected cable next to the tractor’s plastic shroud to keep it out of the way. Everyone always tells you to disconnect the negative battery cable first, but they never tell you why. You do this because the negative cable is connected to the tractor or car’s frame. If you were to disconnect the positive cable first and accidentally touch it to the frame, it would short out the battery. Disconnecting the negative cable prevents this from happening.

• Reach up behind the fuel gauge and disconnect the signal cable by pressing on the connector on the top and pulling back on it.

• Now comes the hard part: removing the old fuel gauge. There are four plastic retaining clips holding the fuel gauge in place on the dashboard. Ideally, you could just reach up, press the clips simultaneously, and push up to remove the fuel gauge. Unfortunately, being a mere mortal, I don’t have the finger strength to do that, but maybe you do. If so, go for it. What I ended up doing was pressing in the bottom two clips simultaneously and forcing the bottom of the fuel gauge out. Once I did that, I put a screwdriver on the bottom of the gauge to keep it from slipping back in, and then pressed the top clips and pushed up to force the fuel gauge out.

• Insert the new fuel gauge into the dashboard, making sure that you have the top of the fuel gauge facing upward, or you’ll have to go through the whole removal process again.

• Attach the signal cable, followed by the battery cable, reversing the steps you used when you disconnected them.

• Put the key in the ignition and turn it one stop to the right to the ‘headlight’ position. If all goes well, the fuel level and number of hours should be displayed. Sadly, the hours reset to 0 and can’t be changed,, so the number of hours reflects how many hours have passed since you last changed the fuel gauge, not how many hours you’ve operated the tractor. This isn’t really a problem for me since I keep track of each time I’ve mowed and what maintenance I’ve done in a spreadsheet, but it’s just another indication of Deere’s disregard for its customers.

Recently, John Deere paid $99 million dollars to settle a lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission and the Attorneys General of Illinois and Minnesota. Deere was accused of restricting farmers’ ability to repair their equipment by preventing them from accessing diagnostic software and tools needed for repairs. Because of this, farmers had to rely on John Deere dealers for repairs. Not only was this more expensive, since the dealers essentially had a monopoly on the service, but it also delayed repairs because there were often waiting lists for access to their services. Imagine being a farmer with a crop to harvest, your very expensive Deere tractor is on the fritz, and you find you’ll have to wait a month before you can get a technician out to fix it. Not good.

While it worked out for the farmers in the end, it’s not so good for homeowners and small businesses that use John Deere products. The company has apparently made decisions to maximize profits at the expense of consumers. While they’re allowed to do this, some of the things they’re doing are pretty sleezy and they may pay for their short-term profits with fewer customers in the future. It’s really sad that they’ve chosen this direction.

I’ll give three examples of this, one of which I’m dealing with now.

First is their Easy Change Oil System. The idea is that instead of having to do an oil change, you can just replace the oil filter with one of their special filters, and not only will you have changed the filter, but you’ll also have performed an oil change. Sounds good, but there are multiple problems with this. First is the price. The proprietary oil filter costs more than a standard filter and the oil it uses. The price difference can be small or significant, depending on whether you used OEM parts or third-party parts. Over the life of the tractor, the difference in price can cost you a lot of money.

The even bigger sin, in my opinion, is that the Easy Change Oil System changes less than half the oil. A typical JD tractor takes about 2 quarts of oil, but the Easy Change Oil System only holds 0.8 quarts, so you’re only doing half an oil change. This is bad because you’re always operating with dirty oil, and even if the filter prevents this from becoming an issue, it doesn’t address that the oil is chemically breaking down over time.

The Easy Change Oil System seems like a scam by JD to increase profits by selling expensive filters and causing engines to wear out prematurely, requiring replacement.

John Deere claims to have tested the system and that it isn’t an issue, but common sense tells me otherwise.

The only legitimate reason this might be considered a good feature is that some owners neglect their tractors and never change the oil, and having a system like this might encourage them to do it from time to time. For the rest of us, though, I think it’s a bad idea.

There are ways to fix this problem. You can buy kits that let you switch the Easy Change Oil System for a standard oil filter. It requires you to change the base to which the oil filter attaches and also replace the drain plug. It’s not that big a deal for someone who’s comfortable doing that sort of thing.

Since I typically put less than 20 hours on my tractor per season and John Deere recommends changing the oil at 50 hours, I chose to replace the drain plug with a drain hose and leave the existing filter in place. Once a year, I completely drain the oil, replace the filter, and add additional oil to the system. While it costs me a bit more, I believe I get the best of both worlds: a complete oil change and a better quality oil filter.

The second place where JD cheaped out was using bushings on their front wheels instead of bearings. Even if you’re good about lubricating the bushings, they tend to wear quickly, leading to front-end problems. Again, this can be modified by the user with a bit of work, but it would have been even better if they had just gone with the slightly more expensive bearings in the first place.

I could have avoided both of the above problems by purchasing one of their more expensive tractors, and I would have done so if the dealer had informed me of these issues, but he didn’t, and since I was in a hurry (my existing tractor had died and the grass was out of control) and didn’t do my usual amount of research, I got burned.

The third problem, which I think is really crappy of Deere to have inflicted on their customers, has to do with the fuel level/hours meter. The meter on the dashboard shows how much fuel you have in your gas tank and how many operating hours the tractor has. Both are pretty important things to know. It turns out these fail after 2 to 3 years, not because of a defect but because they use a CR2032 battery. The CR2032 is one of those disk-shaped batteries used in cameras and remote controls, and it costs about seventy-five cents. Deere uses one of the to power the meter, but instead of making it replaceable, they have chosen to seal it in the meter, apparently pot it in with epoxy, and then glue the whole unit shut, making it impossible to replace. The only solution is to purchase a new meter from them, which will cost about $55. What a disgusting thing to do to your customers!

When I started my tractor up for the season yesterday, I noticed an error code on the fuel gauge indicating a dead battery. I have ordered a new meter, which I’ll pick up today. I’m not happy about this.

Overall, John Deere makes a pretty good lawn tractor, but it’s infuriating that they treat their customers the way they do. I really hate dealing with sleazy companies, which, sadly, John Deere appears to be.