2001 GMC Yukon XL (SLT) transmission

[Alan L.]

Getting ready for another long road trip to New Mexico at the end of December. Truck is running fine at 215,000 miles. Car shopping again, but frankly just can't decide. Found a 2013 Suburban with 13K miles on it about 20 miles from here for about $39K - 4WD, LT, leather, similar equipment to what we have plus sunroof. But frankly the newer ones don't have arm rests and are not as comfortable, so considering something else. Will probably just keep the truck and hope for no break down. If it breaks down between Clayton and Springer NM (88 miles of nothing but antelope) it would not be pleasant. Temps below zero at night.

Have been considering Acadia and Ford Flex, but they aren't cheap either and used ones with similar miles cost nearly as much as the suburban.

Transmissions seems to be shifting fine, really no symptoms of any problems at all right now.

My son and his son, and my daughter, son in law, and their 3 kids are going, so they will be driving a Sequoia. I guess all 9 of us could pile in there if we break down.

 

[Alan L.]

This is 4 years from the original post when the truck had 152K miles on it. My December post said it had 215K miles, actually it has about that now. The trip to New Mexico with the whole crew went without a hitch. The truck maybe is not at tight in the front end as it was, but it still cruizes down the road very nicely, and has a great ride. If not for fear of break down I would not consider replacing it. We went car shopping last weekend and the wife had pretty much decided she wanted to downsize to a Honda Pilot. But to get all the options we are accustomed to the car it pushing $40K, and our Yukon XL trade value is $2800-$3500 and that was before a couple of dents. Looks good overall though.

She got her truck cleaned to day and texted me "I love my car". We have some serious problems letting this truck go. Planning a big road trip in the summer - maybe back to Montana and want a reliable vehicle. If it will be new we need to get it pretty soon so it will be broke in.

Most similarly equipped 4x4 Yukon XL/Suburbans with 20-25K miles are in the $42K range but I found one, not really the color we would want, for $36K with 20K miles on it. We drove it last Saturday and I had the same impression as a couple of years ago driving a new one. Not that impressed. This vehicle has changed, and not for the better. Seems bouncier and the lack of arm rests is a problem. This is when we started looking at other, smaller SUVs. The Pilot you can fold the seats and get lots of room, but when you are using all 3 rows there is not much behind that back row. The Pilot 4x4 frankly drives and rides better, to me, than the new Yukon XL. But it is a question of whether we will be happy with less room and driving a crossover rather that a real truck. And there is the $40K.........

As I said before, if it is just a matter of fixing stuff when it breaks I keep the old truck. But I just don't want to get stranded.

Almost pulled the trigger today on the Pilot but we decided to quit thinking about it for a while. I need to replace my 240K Honda Accord commuter car at some point too, with another one. My wife knows I would rather drive a truck and so wants me to do that instead of getting a new SUV for her. But it makes not sense commuting 110 miles round trip each day and wearing out an expensive truck and burning all that gas. I think I can get a used LX with maybe 30K for 16K or so.

Sorry for the boring rambling, but this is sort of a journal on the Yukon XL. Frankly I hope I am posting about this in other 2 years, and the truck is still going strong.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

You can fix a lot of stuff under the old Yukon for way less than $40,000. I had to put a used rear axle in mine at 165,000. I think the repairs done on it at 85,000 weren't done correctly.

I hear you on the old car, decent mileage, commuter. A truck will cost $$$ to drive putting almost twice as much gas in it as an accord. My Impala has the 3.4 V6 and gets about 26 mpg combined on my 135 mile round trip commute. It has almost 285,000 and I did a top end head rebuild last May so I'm hoping to get another 100,000 out of her. If I could just learn how to rebuild the trannys in them....

 

[carpenter383]

You can fix a lot of stuff under the old Yukon for way less than $40,000. I had to put a used rear axle in mine at 165,000. I think the repairs done on it at 85,000 weren't done correctly.

I hear you on the old car, decent mileage, commuter. A truck will cost $$$ to drive putting almost twice as much gas in it as an accord. My Impala has the 3.4 V6 and gets about 26 mpg combined on my 135 mile round trip commute. It has almost 285,000 and I did a top end head rebuild last May so I'm hoping to get another 100,000 out of her. If I could just learn how to rebuild the trannys in them....

The 4t65e is a pretty reliable trans but it isn't exactly a beginner trans to rebuild. If you get a book and take your time it's not overly complicated though. What I don't like about these trans is the valvebody is on the side so it's a pain to replace solenoids or other valvebody related problems with the trans is in the car.

 

[Alan L.]

We found a similarly equipped '13 Suburban and it drove great. The wife loves the color - some kind of Mocha metallic or something and the ebony leather interior looks great. Should be about $40K for 12,448 miles, it is s certified GM car at a Chevy dealer 20 miles from us. My concern is that it was in a rental fleet in California. Some say that is good, others say not so good. The other problem is turning loose of the 2001 Yukon that is running perfectly with 214K miles. So many memories in that truck. I drove to work in it today due to the ice and snow (4WD) and it is just super comfortable.

We almost made the deal but backed out but need to probably tomorrow of the "new" one will be gone. I also wonder about the ebony interior in the Texas heat. If the a/c on the new one is as good as the old one it would not be a problem but maybe the a/c is not as good? Hard to tell in March although here in North Texas it was 80 on Saturday and 11 last night.

Here again, I would like to keep the old one, but fear a break down on one of our road trips. I wonder if Aamco can run some kind of test on the transmission and tell us it is either about to fail or in good shape?

 

[Alan L.]

We ended up with a white on black 2013 Suburban LT 4x4. Kept the old Yukon as they only offered $2000 for it. It still runs perfect and is in the garage while my Accord sits outside.

 

[timswi]

We ended up with a white on black 2013 Suburban LT 4x4. Kept the old Yukon as they only offered $2000 for it. It still runs perfect and is in the garage while my Accord sits outside.

Good call..If you're going to be clocking some miles, a new or newer one makes sense..I ran my GM's to 200k for years but always took the wife's newer one on family trips over 150 miles each way..All in my head but I felt better about it even though the high milers never failed me.

Need pics--Without those it never happened

 

[Green Power]

So now that you have had the 13' for a little while now how do you like it? Are you still driving the 01? You do know that its a TBN rule to have pictures OR else it didnt happen. :laughing:

 

[Green Power]

How has the '13 suburban been doing?

 

[Alan L.]

The '13 is great. Sold the "01 for $3200 and the buyer is happy. Just got back from a Colorado trip and the drive was enjoyable, good ride and effortless driving. Got anywhere from 16.5 to 24 mpg.

In the mountains I was under the impression the new trans would check the speed going downhill but I still had to downshift just like the Yukon.

Funny thing is that GM requires that synthetic oil be used in this vehicle, so I put Mobil 1 in it.

Still have some buyer remorse - maybe could have kept spending money on the '01, but we are enjoying the "new" one and as Festus would say "What's did is did".