I fixed a tractor using John Deere’s self-repair service. Farmers aren’t sold on it.

The manufacturer has a service that lets owners repair their own equipment.

The short version

• There is something wrong with the tractor.
• The water-in-fuel sensor, a small device embedded in the John Deere machine that monitors the integrity of its diesel engine, is disconnected.
• I’m poking at a laptop at John Deere’s corporate office in Santa Clara, California.

What happened

There’s a cable connecting the computer to a 5130ML tractor sitting on the grass nearby. A bright red notification sits on the screen, telling me something is wrong.

Why it matters

I type in a question and the software pulls up instructions and a few images from the user manual that matches the serial number of the machine.

Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Ars Technica via the links above and below.