Opinion on GM Service

[BMPNUGLS]

So recently my 2016 Yukon XL Denali has started to exhibit the trans/torque converter shudder...pretty bad actually. However, it does have 79,*** miles (90% have been highway business travel miles). I also have an extended ‘bumper to bumper’ warranty to 120K miles....

Today I take it in for oil change service and for the dealer to ‘diagnose’ the shudder issue. Dealer service tech confirmed the shudder issue. Now, what I was told was that the extended warranty would cover the labor and diagnostic charge but I would be responsible for the $230 trans flush and reprogram.... I mentioned the TSB 16-NA-175 but made no difference. So I’m still on the hook for ~$300 for GMs crappy tranny issues!?? Should I be upset or are they being reasonable?

 

[Doubeleive]

go to the gm website and select your brand and then select chat and see what they say about it, to me it doesn't sound right but it's all in the warranty "fine print" somewhere.

 

[Solace]

That doesn't sound right at all. I would definitely ask for the Service Manager and possibly contact GM about it.

I had an issue when I took in my Tahoe to a dealership here in Florida to get the PPV fan recall taken care of. Beforehand I contacted my dealer's head mechanic about it to get details of what to expect and was told 1 to 2 hours at the most.

This dealership took nearly 5 hours to do the fan replacement and had issues figuring out how to even pull up the recall.

Dealers are very hit or miss when it comes to service.

 

[BMPNUGLS]

So chatted with a GM Customer Service rep and they said since the factory warranty has expired then coverage is totally up to the company that I bought the extended warranty through...which they also said GM does not sell any extended warranties which I did not realize. So looks like I’m stuck with the charges...

this Denali has really spoiled my opinion of GM vehicles.. I’ve always been a GM guy since I was a kid..but the issues I’ve had with this Denali (pillar covers coming off, constant shake even after 3 sets of tires and continuous RF balancing, battery crapped out after a year and a half, now this transmission issue)...for a $80K vehicle is less than unacceptable...had a F150 super crew I sold prior to this Denali and did not have one single issue with it and it had 127K miles when I sold it!

 

[Rdr854]

So chatted with a GM Customer Service rep and they said since the factory warranty has expired then coverage is totally up to the company that I bought the extended warranty through...which they also said GM does not sell any extended warranties which I did not realize. So looks like I’m stuck with the charges...

this Denali has really spoiled my opinion of GM vehicles.. I’ve always been a GM guy since I was a kid..but the issues I’ve had with this Denali (pillar covers coming off, constant shake even after 3 sets of tires and continuous RF balancing, battery crapped out after a year and a half, now this transmission issue)...for a $80K vehicle is less than unacceptable...had a F150 super crew I sold prior to this Denali and did not have one single issue with it and it had 127K miles when I sold it!

I thought GM had GM backed extended warranty and service agreements like the other OEMs.

 

[BourbonNcigars]

So chatted with a GM Customer Service rep and they said since the factory warranty has expired then coverage is totally up to the company that I bought the extended warranty through...

Infamous third party warranties. Consider yourself lucky when they actually approve paying for anything.

 

[BourbonNcigars]

I thought GM had GM backed extended warranty and service agreements like the other OEMs.

They probably do, but as was explained to me by the GM of another brand's dealership, a lot of dealership owners sell third party warranties because there's more money in it than selling the actual manufacturer's warranty. Perhaps some truth to that since when I called around to compare prices on warranties very few dealers sold anything but third party ones. When I did find a dealer selling the manufacturer's warranty, it was about half the price of all the other third party warranties. Who knows...

 

[CMoore711]

'15 Yukon XL Denali here, had the same shudder symptom you had at about 47K miles, they performed the Transmission TSB, flush and TCM reprogram and I didn't pay a penny. The dealer actually made the statement; "no cost to you and the TSB includes a transmission flush, which works out because that service was coming up soon for you..." Granted I was still within my CPO bumper to bumper time frame so that was a big difference compared to your current situation.

I will say in general having owned a few GM vehicles, I think the largest downfall of GM service is the fact that it's so inconsistent from dealership to dealership, I'm not taking between brands either, just take a Chevrolet dealer vs another Chevrolet dealer. I'd be willing to bet that there is another GM dealership within your location that had you went to them there's a chance you wouldn't be paying anything for the TSB repair.

 

[BourbonNcigars]

I will say in general having owned a few GM vehicles, I think the largest downfall of GM service is the fact that it's so inconsistent from dealership to dealership, I'm not taking between brands either, just take a Chevrolet dealer vs another Chevrolet dealer.

Yeah, but it's not just Chevy. It's all of them. Until brands put out specific guide lines and standards for their franchise owners it'll be that way.

 

[BMPNUGLS]

From what I was told by the GMC Customer Service Rep they do not sell ANY extended warranties...they are all third party anymore...which wish it would have shown the shudder issue before the original mfg warranty was up then I’m sure it woulda been no cost to me...but now $400 later (which did include a oil change and tire rotation) it better fix the issue at least for a few more miles til I can offload this thing!

 

[pwtr02ss]

Have you had the transmission serviced prior to this time? I believe the service internal is like 50K miles. I wish you the best of luck on the repairs. I hear so many horror stories about the 8 speed. I hope the 10 speed holds up better.

 

[BMPNUGLS]

Have you had the transmission serviced prior to this time? I believe the service internal is like 50K miles. I wish you the best of luck on the repairs. I hear so many horror stories about the 8 speed. I hope the 10 speed holds up better.

I hadn’t had the transmission serviced yet...with roughly 65+K of its 78K miles being ‘no load’ highway miles I figured I could hold out til 100K before having it serviced...and the fact that I’ve also heard horror stories of people having issues after changing transmission fluid...pretty sure this flush they did is with higher viscosity fluid to ‘bandaid’ the issue for a while til this fluid thins out as well.

 

[BMPNUGLS]

Here’s the other ‘kicker’....they did a trans fluid ‘flush’ and reprogram...BUT did NOT change the filter!! What’s the point of the fluid flush (other than to switch it out to the thicker viscosity fluid for a huge upcharge!) without changing the filter! Pretty sure I just got screwed all the way around!

 

[Tonyrodz]

Here’s the other ‘kicker’....they did a trans fluid ‘flush’ and reprogram...BUT did NOT change the filter!! What’s the point of the fluid flush (other than to switch it out to the thicker viscosity fluid for a huge upcharge!) without changing the filter! Pretty sure I just got screwed all the way around!

How do you know they didn't change the filter?

 

[Doubeleive]

From what I understand the filters in these newer transmissions according to what I have read are supposed to be lifetime filters, I don't know if they are that good or not just what I have read
as far as your 3rd party warranty's there are basically 4 different levels, 1st level being low level powertrain warranty for if the part breaks before it's expected life (does not cover normal wear & tear and does not cover a part if it broke after it's expected life) and is very minimal and cheap, 2nd basic powertrain and covers basic wear & tear, 3rd a higher level with powertrain and a good portion of the electronics, 4th highest and covers pretty much bumper to bumper, basically anything that breaks but not everything. a lot of people buy the cheapest one and don't realize it really doesn't cover much of anything and then you end up with a lot of misunderstandings and complaints because they didn't bother to read the details and the salesman just told them what they wanted to hear so they could get that extra chunk of money in the sale and the customer walks away thinking they have a nice warranty when it's total crap. Always read the details.......it's all in the fine print and is worded legally so it's in there favor. Super easy to get screwed with the low level warranty because of the way it is worded.

 

[BMPNUGLS]

From what I understand the filters in these newer transmissions according to what I have read are supposed to be lifetime filters, I don't know if they are that good or not just what I have read
as far as your 3rd party warranty's there are basically 4 different levels, 1st level being low level powertrain warranty for if the part breaks before it's expected life (does not cover normal wear & tear and does not cover a part if it broke after it's expected life) and is very minimal and cheap, 2nd basic powertrain and covers basic wear & tear, 3rd a higher level with powertrain and a good portion of the electronics, 4th highest and covers pretty much bumper to bumper, basically anything that breaks but not everything. a lot of people buy the cheapest one and don't realize it really doesn't cover much of anything and then you end up with a lot of misunderstandings and complaints because they didn't bother to read the details and the salesman just told them what they wanted to hear so they could get that extra chunk of money in the sale and the customer walks away thinking they have a nice warranty when it's total crap. Always read the details.......it's all in the fine print and is worded legally so it's in there favor. Super easy to get screwed with the low level warranty because of the way it is worded.

The company I bought the extended bumper to bumper from had three ‘tiers’ as you mention...I bought the highest/most expensive ‘tier’...so they must be a crappy extended warranty company...

 

[BMPNUGLS]

How do you know they didn't change the filter?

Believe it or not it states right on the service Dept paperwork “no filter changed”...so I looked under the Denali tonight and sure enough they didn’t even drop the pan....straight forward switch out of fluid on a fluid machine...

 

[BMPNUGLS]

I had some serious plans for this thing once it made it out of the extended warranty...have been chomping at the bit to drop it about 2/4, a tune, exhaust, etc but this has finally made me loose all excitement and most importantly confidence in this vehicle! May look for a nice somewhat low mileage 2010-2014 to make a project. Something that rides nice and doesn’t shake constantly.

 

[mountie]

If your newer model GM has a 'lock-up' in the torque converter, that could be the cause of the shake.

You must use specific WORDS to cover your specific warranty concern. Check for a Technical Service Bulletin on it. You can go to any GM dealership. Cadillac, Chevy, GMC, Buick.....

 

[Doubeleive]

The company I bought the extended bumper to bumper from had three ‘tiers’ as you mention...I bought the highest/most expensive ‘tier’...so they must be a crappy extended warranty company...

you can always call them and ask questions you don't have to leave it up to the dealer to deal with them, these warranty company's only pay out so much for parts and labor even on the top tier. the repair shop and warranty company usually work out agreeable prices, if the price the warranty company was willing to pay was less than what the shop wanted then they usually ask if you want to pay the difference to have it done, always ask lots of questions.