2002 Yukon Denali - considering buying

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Kingjay239

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That’s a helluva deal and at 120 k it’s just broken in. If you wanna see some ideas of what you can do with a 2002 Denali and you’re in for some good reading, check out the build thread on mine. It’s a long thread (currently closing in on 260 pages) but I’ve done a lot to it over the years.
https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/threads/rocket-mans-02-denali-build-thread-aka-the-beast.83457/

Even with the issues you listed, I think that is a fantastic deal. I wouldn't even hesitate as long as it seems to run and drive good. My biggest worry would be that someone else would swoop in and purchase it before I could get to the bank lol!

Haha, yea I was a bit worried about that, but thankfully the seller was a friend of the family and understood that I needed it and was willing to hold it for me ^_^


Did you buy it @Kingjay239 ?

Hey man! And yes! I did buy it. I’m currently driving it and so far I’m in love with it. It feels so nice driving it. And even tho it’s an old vehicle. I get many compliments over it lol.

right now I’m just trying to fix all the little issues that it has. The biggest one that bugs me quite a bit is that at night the speedometer and stuff don’t light up. As well as the small screen on the stereo and the little screen that displays the information near the 6 cd changer. I’d also love to upgrade the headlights to something brighter and more on the blue/white side. I’m sure a good set of HIDs would do the trick. Also noticed that the compass on the rear view mirror displays the direction but underneath that it says “OC” I think? My old 2000 Yahoe said the same thing as well.

Btw, I checked out your Denali, in a different thread and that thing is a beauty! Would love to make mine look like that lol. I’m looking into getting some different rims for it, something that fills in the wheel well better, and doesn’t make it look like it’s an off-road car lol.
 

adventurenali92

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Haha, yea I was a bit worried about that, but thankfully the seller was a friend of the family and understood that I needed it and was willing to hold it for me ^_^




Hey man! And yes! I did buy it. I’m currently driving it and so far I’m in love with it. It feels so nice driving it. And even tho it’s an old vehicle. I get many compliments over it lol.

right now I’m just trying to fix all the little issues that it has. The biggest one that bugs me quite a bit is that at night the speedometer and stuff don’t light up. As well as the small screen on the stereo and the little screen that displays the information near the 6 cd changer. I’d also love to upgrade the headlights to something brighter and more on the blue/white side. I’m sure a good set of HIDs would do the trick. Also noticed that the compass on the rear view mirror displays the direction but underneath that it says “OC” I think? My old 2000 Yahoe said the same thing as well.

Btw, I checked out your Denali, in a different thread and that thing is a beauty! Would love to make mine look like that lol. I’m looking into getting some different rims for it, something that fills in the wheel well better, and doesn’t make it look like it’s an off-road car lol.
Glad to hear you made the deal happen! congrats and welcome to the world of GM! Lol
Sounds like the the lights are set too low. There’s a dimmer wheel to the left of the steering wheel right beside the headlight switch. Have you played with that? It controls bright and how dark the backlighting is in the gauge cluster, info center and stereo screen. All the way up will also click the dome lights on. One click below is full backlight level.
 
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Kingjay239

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Glad to hear you made the deal happen! congrats and welcome to the world of GM! Lol
Sounds like the the lights are set too low. There’s a dimmer wheel to the left of the steering wheel right beside the headlight switch. Have you played with that? It controls bright and how dark the backlighting is in the gauge cluster, info center and stereo screen. All the way up will also click the dome lights on. One click below is full backlight level.

Thank you my friend! I appreciate the warm welcoming! This seems like a great community for GM lovers ^_^ and thankfully my parents raised me right haha so I've always loved GM cars, even tho the ford peeps hate on us quite a bit lol.

I actually did mess around with the settings, but unfortunately no matter where I adjust it to, the cluster stays dark. I’m thinking it’s not the actual lights themselves because when I turn the key to the accessories position (you know where the stereo and all that turns on) and the little info screen as well as the radio screen turn on, but as soon as I turn the truck all the way on the go completely dark. It’s quite confusing. The cluster itself doesn’t light up, the only things on the cluster that light up are where the it says PRND and the turn signal lights as well as the little square that displays other info. Anything like the speedometer or the oil temp meter/gas gauge etc don’t. I mean they work and display the correct speed that I’m going etc. at night they just don’t light up. But I’ll continue to mess with it, Incase that I accidentally missed something or didn’t mess with it correctly like you said.

again, thank you for the welcoming me. Before I purchased this Denali, I actually had a 2000 Chevy Tahoe LT with only 87k miles. I ended up selling it for dumb reasons, but now I miss it because I loved it and would have loved to have both trucks at the same time lol. Ever since I can remember I’ve always wanted either a Denali or an Escalade of the same generation. No matter how much time passes and how old they get, I still find them to be beautiful trucks lol. So I basically have one of my dream SUVs at the moment haha. If I could sleep in it I would lol. I love looking at it haha. And they say that if you go to a store and park and you don’t look back at your car it’s because you’re not fully happy with what you have, well trust me, I look back at mine right up until I’m inside the store lolol.
 

alaska_guy

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It's common for the clusters on these vehicles along with the bulbs for all the switches to die with age. Most common upgrade is replacing all the bulbs with led and or sending them off to a company to get them replaced.

All my steering wheel button lights are dead along with my heater back lights.
 

adventurenali92

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Yeah what he said^ the cluster lights are probably burned out. They can be replaced. I did my cluster blue LEDs. Though I did a whole Escalade cluster on my Denali.
I agree with you I’ve always loved this gen Denali and Escalade. Always wanted one. And I have a denali so I basically have a dream car as well lol.
 

igell

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As far as a stereo.. i would recommend an after market deck... something basic with BT .. it will really wake up the sound. Welcome! I have an 01 that looks almost exactly like yours :)
 

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