New Owner - 2013 Yukon XL Denali-Very High Mileage

[shank0668]

Hello all,

I am new here and the new owner of this 2013 Yukon XL Denali with 250k miles.

I was (and still am) very skeptical on the mileage, but after putting a hundred or so miles of test driving on I decided to pull the trigger. Very stable at 75mph. Oil pressure looks good.

I went back and forth between buying one with 125k miles for $6-10k more, but the ones I looked at were in way worse shape rust wise. While the underside may not look completely perfect, for Ohio its as good as we get.

It has its fair share of small, $20-80 issues that I will replace over time.

It was a one owner vehicle. I received all the records that carfax recorded, which seems to be everything. I have every oil change on there. While I wish some were closer together mileage wise, I am happy to have the records.

Hopefully it is a fairly reliable vehicle. I obviously am aware that the transmission or something could fail at any time, but it seems to shift well. The last flush was 120k miles ago, I am on the fence of doing a flush or just dropping the pan and replacing.

Power Steering fluid looks a little rough, I plan to change that. I know a pump could be necessary.

We will see how things go. My hope is to get 2-3 years and about 50k miles out of it before I consider shipping it down south for a whole new chassis/duramax/allison.

 

[Sarah_279]

Welcome and congrats on your ride - it looks really clean

 

[Miami-Dade]

Welcome from Miami Beach Sam!

Looks to be in very good condition. Glad you got a 1 owner with all service records.

 

[OR VietVet]

Welcome to the forum from Oregon. For a round trip plane ticket you could have flown to a state out of the rust belt and gotten one with no rust. But I do have to say that the one you got looks very nice. That 250k must have been lots of highway miles.

 

[wjburken]

Welcome from Iowa! I have a 2013 with 95K. They must have done a lot of highway driving to get it to 250K. 50K a year is a lot of windshield time. What’s the hour count on the dash say?

 

[swathdiver]

Welcome to the forum Sam! Happy New Year!

Looks great and all that highway mileage is like 25K in city mileage. Keep ALL the fluids clean and send out oil samples of the engine and transmission to Blackstone Labs for analysis.

Has the truck had any major repairs? Looking at the inside of that rear tire, you might need an alignment or the tie rods and or ball joints replaced.

 

[OR VietVet]

Good catch on the tire James. If that was rotated from the front it does show inner wear and could be related to exactly what you said.

 

[Kee Fuller]

Looks good

 

[shank0668]

Welcome from Iowa! I have a 2013 with 95K. They must have done a lot of highway driving to get it to 250K. 50K a year is a lot of windshield time. What’s the hour count on the dash say?

Thanks! 7500 hours.

Welcome to the forum Sam! Happy New Year!

Looks great and all that highway mileage is like 25K in city mileage. Keep ALL the fluids clean and send out oil samples of the engine and transmission to Blackstone Labs for analysis.

Has the truck had any major repairs? Looking at the inside of that rear tire, you might need an alignment or the tie rods and or ball joints replaced.

Happy New Year! No major repairs recorded. Just sway bar links at 115k.

I think you are correct, when i shake the front left wheel I can feel some play. I am assuming it is a ball joint. I am going to look into that.

 

[Doubeleive]

welcome, looks good, it takes about 1 gallon of power steering fluid to get it all freshened up, jack up the front so the wheels are off the ground, pump out what you can then fill it with fresh, start it up and rotate the wheels fully a few times, shut it off pump out what you can re-fill with fresh, repeat until you have gone thru 1 gallon of fresh fluid and you should be good to go. If you replace the tires on the Denali be sure to do all 4 tires at the same time the awd drive system has to have all 4 tires within 2/32's of each other. I would flush the brake fluid also and the transfer case and diff's if the there are no records of them being done. A little preventative tlc can get you a ways down the road still hopefully without any major repairs.

 

[Bob2C]

Very nice and extremely clean. Enjoy

 

[OR VietVet]

Thanks! 7500 hours.




Happy New Year! No major repairs recorded. Just sway bar links at 115k.

I think you are correct, when i shake the front left wheel I can feel some play. I am assuming it is a ball joint. I am going to look into that.

Depending on how you are "shaking it" it could have a ball joint problem, hub problem, tie rod end....etc. Also, like Wes said, fluid changes so they are all fresh and you know the condition. If your records show recent fluid changes then follow that, depending on what the mileage was at the time.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Welcome from NH. Great looking truck for that mileage.

 

[shank0668]

Depending on how you are "shaking it" it could have a ball joint problem, hub problem, tie rod end....etc. Also, like Wes said, fluid changes so they are all fresh and you know the condition. If your records show recent fluid changes then follow that, depending on what the mileage was at the time.

Yes, I don’t get any up and down play, left and right I do. Once i get someone to help push and pull on the wheel I’ll be able to pinpoint. Im almost sure it’s a tie rod end now.

 

[OR VietVet]

Best way to check a ball joint is to use a floor jack and lift as close to the lower ball joint as possible a the lower control arm. Lift tire about 1-2 inches off ground and then put a long pry bar under the tire at 6 o'clock. Lift up and release the pry bar while feeling for play and also looking for up and down play at the ball joints. You can also then grab the tire at 3 & 9 and shake for play in steering linkages. You can also grab at 12 & 6 and check for bearing play.

 

[fastscirocco]

it takes about 1 gallon of power steering fluid to get it all freshened up, jack up the front so the wheels are off the ground, pump out what you can then fill it with fresh, start it up and rotate the wheels fully a few times, shut it off pump out what you can re-fill with fresh, repeat until you have gone thru 1 gallon of fresh fluid and you should be good to go.

In this procedure to replace the power steering fluid, when you say pump out what you can - how would you "pump out" the fluid?

Thanks!

 

['99_Tahoe LS 4WD - AZ]

Welcome to the forum from Arizona! First things first, get the AFM/DoD deactivated!!!

 

[shank0668]

In this procedure to replace the power steering fluid, when you say pump out what you can - how would you "pump out" the fluid?

Thanks!

I think the idea is to suck it out of the reservoir, with a pump or turkey baster, something like that.

Welcome to the forum from Arizona! First things first, get the AFM/DoD deactivated!!!

What’s the best way to do this? I’ve looked into it some.

 

[wjburken]

What’s the best way to do this? I’ve looked into it some.

Quick and easy way is to get a Range AFM Delete module.
https://rangetechnology.com/afm-disabler/

 

[Doubeleive]

In this procedure to replace the power steering fluid, when you say pump out what you can - how would you "pump out" the fluid?

Thanks!

you can buy a small manual transfer pump at most autoparts store for less then $20.00 i bought one from autozone it has rubber hose's on each end, so I inserted one end into the power steering reservoir and the other end into a small bucket, pumped out all I could, re-filled the reservoir with fresh fluid, started it up, turned the wheels lock to lock several times, shut it off, pumped it all out again, filled it with fresh again, repeated until I had gone thru 1 gallon, then it looks like new fluid again.