John Deere S160 fuel gauge issue

H

Heatclif.

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Jan 23, 2026
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My John Deere S160 fuel gauge is acting up after just 25 hours. The MowerPlus display started glitching with weird characters and now it’s just showing a random 6 on the right side. No fuel level, no hour meter, nothing.
The mower is out at my property, so I haven't been able to check if the wiring harness wiggled loose yet

has anyone dealt with this AUC15402 gauge failure before?
The dealer is a haul and I can't easily transport it, plus that specific part seems to be on backorder everywhere. Is there a common fix, or is the display just fried?
 
my dad had the same problem. he has an A160, around 100 hours.
I think the problem started after he did an oil change

he still had a warranty at that time, also a two year extended warranty, but neither did him any good because the dealer said that the warranty was voided since he kept the mower outside. yeah, ridiculous, right
he did cover it, though. the gauge was around $80. if that isn't solve your issue, you probably need to check the fuel tank sending unit
 
I had a similar experience with my S140 right after the first oil change. The screen went into full alien mode and froze on a single number. It turned out that the connector behind the dash was only half seated. Once I reseated it, everything worked perfectly again. It's definitely worth checking that before jumping to the conclusion that the display is toast.
 
The same strange stuck number issue happened with my neighbor’s S160 after just 30 hours of use. The harness looked fine, but the gauge was completely dead. The dealer ended up swapping the AUC15402 under warranty. If reseating doesn’t do the trick, unfortunately, it’s likely fried and we’ll be waiting on backorder.
 
Mine had a glitch after bouncing over a few rough acres, and it started flashing random symbols like it was possessed. I took off the cowling, unplugged and cleaned the connector, and then added some dielectric grease. That fixed it right away. If it happens again, it’s probably the gauge itself that’s failing internally.
 
OP, if the screen is on but just showing a static number, it might be the fuel sending unit in the tank rather than the gauge itself. try unplugging the sender, and if the display changes or clears, you know the gauge is fine and the sender is the culprit
 
That’s a solid tip! Doing a quick check on the sender can really save you time and avoid a long trip before you decide to switch out the entire display.
 

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