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2016 Yukon Denali ride issues


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I am a new member to this forum and thought maybe someone(s) on this forum might be able to help.

I ordered a 2016 Yukon Denali short ($79,000 with accessories) but it has had problems that we noticed on our long drive home from the dealership. We drove 5 hours home on a Sunday otherwise we would have turned around to take it back to the dealership.

 

The Denali had a severe vibration throughout the entire vehicle with the steering shaking from 1 - 55 mph. The ride was hard as a rock, not firm but hard and there was a booming pounding sensation coming from the Denali whenever you went over a bump or expansion joint. At higher speeds it would what I would call drone or buffet.

 

I called the dealership and they came to take the vehicle and road force balanced the tires which took out 95% of the vibration issue. Thank god for that. They were also trying to diagnose the hard ride but in the end stated on the repair order that it was considered normal.

 

Has anyone on here been able to find a solution to the hard unsettled ride and the buffeting in these vehicles equipped with magnetic ride control?

 

I have owned Escalades and Denali all with 22 inch wheels/tires previous to this 2016 Denali.

 

 

*** Update: The owner of a local GM dealership drove the Denali today and stated to me that "this buffeting is not good" starts at around 60 mph on up, sounds like a rear window is open.

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Certainly sorry to hear about the trouble with your new ride. Ask them to locate this Service Bulletin and implement the fixe(s). Let us know if it works on your 2016, please. Have them look up PIT5318B:

 

#PIT5318B: Wind Buffeting Drone Type Noise And/Or Body Pressure Booming And/Or Water Leak - (Jul 30, 2015)

Subject: Wind Buffeting Drone Type Noise And/Or Body Pressure Booming And/Or Water Leak

 

 

Models: 2015 Cadillac Escalade Models

2015 Chevrolet Suburban, Tahoe

2015 GMC Yukon Models

 

This PI was superseded to update Recommendation/Instructions. Please discard PIT5318A.

 

The following diagnosis might be helpful if the vehicle exhibits the symptom(s) described in this PI.

 

Condition/Concern

 

Note: In some cases, correcting the roof bows may not eliminate the body pressure booming issue due to the fact that the roof is being excited by some other input(s). These other areas will need to be addressed if the body pressure booming is still present at the completion of this PI. Examples of inputs that can excite the roof may be:

 

Tires with excessive road force (Reference "condition 1" in the latest version of PI1354)

Exhaust back pressure valve issues (Reference the latest version of PIT5404)

Rear axle related issues such as pitchline runout (Reference "Other Sources of Vibrations" Step 3 in the latest version of PI1354)

 

Some owners may comment of a wind buffeting/droan noise or body/pressure booming (the feeling of pressure in the ears) while driving. The body booming issue may be more noticeable when the engine is in V4 mode for active fuel management (AFM). In some cases, they may also notice a water leak from the headliner area, if equipped with a sunroof.

 

These concerns could be caused by the roof sheet metal no longer being attached fully to the roof bows (1). On trucks with a sunroof, it may be noticed that the rear edge of the sunroof glass is considerably lower than the roof (2). This is due to the roof sheet metal being detached from the roof bow directly behind the sunroof opening (3).

Object ID: 3973291Click here for detailed picture of the image.

 

Object ID: 3973293Click here for detailed picture of the image.

 

Object ID: 3973294Click here for detailed picture of the image.

 

Recommendation/Instructions

 

To correct this concern, apply panel vibration control material between the roof bow and roof sheet metal, along with foam shim material when necessary.

 

Remove the headliner to access the underside of the roof. Inspect all 4 roof bows for insufficient bonding to the roof sheet metal (4). Any roof bow that is not bonded to the sheet metal will need to be repaired.

Object ID: 3973295Click here for detailed picture of the image.

 

Use the following repair for all 4 bows on trucks without a sunroof, and for the 3 rear bows on trucks with a sunroof:

 

Use a plastic scraper or similar tool to remove the old foam. Measure the gap between the top of the roof bow and bottom of the roof sheet metal. If the gap is 1/4" (6mm) or greater, use a combination of 3/4" wide by 5/16" or 7/16" thick foam shim material (as listed below) to fill the gap between the roof bow and the sheet metal. Care should be taken to add only the correct thickness of foam to fill the gap so it does not push up on the roof. Cut the foam into 5 inch lengths and evenly place in five spots along the roof bow. With the foam shim material in place, or if the gap is less than 1/4" (6mm), use the panel control vibration material (as listed below) to fill the voids between the roof bow and sheet metal. In some cases, it may take a couple layers of material to fill the void.

 

Repair for 1st bow on trucks with a sunroof:

 

Using a plastic scraper or similar tool, remove the old foam. Use the panel control vibration material (listed below) and apply along the top of the 1st roof bow. Obtain two 2x4 pieces of wood long enough to span the opening of the sunroof. Wrap one of the 2x4's with a cloth to protect the roof paint and place it on top of the roof, see NOTE below. Place the second 2x4 underneath the roof bow, sandwiching the roof sheet metal and roof bow between the two pieces of wood. Clamp everything together using three C-clamps as shown in the photo below (5 & 6). The clamps will need to stay in place until the panel control vibration material is dry.

 

Note: When placing the cloth wrapped 2x4 on the top/roof, pay close attention that it is far enough forward so that the 2x4's rear edge does not contact the roof's raised ribs. The roof ribs may be damaged/dented if the 2x4 is placed on them when clamped down

Object ID: 3973296Click here for detailed picture of the image.

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We just took a short trip (100 miles) where we could set the cruise around what we would normally set it at (64 mph) and see how the ride would be.

 

We had thought the vibration was taken care of with Road Force Balancing the tires but its not, Its still there just not as pronounced.

 

Uhm, pretty much you can't drive it over 60 mph or the buffeting gets you bad. The buffeting and vibration I believe is coming from the rear of the Denali and cycles itself down the road. For a mile or so it would ride just okay then it would buffet and vibrate for a mile or so then back to a so so so ride, then back to the buffeting, pressure, vibrate thing. When going around a bend in the road around 60 mph it gets worse!

 

Around town it is tolerable but out on the highway I would consider it "undriveable" with the way the buffeting noise and vibration is.

 

We have a 4 day trip planned in a couple of weeks and if the dealership cannot fix it by then we are taking the Grand Cherokee.

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Certainly sorry to hear about the trouble with your new ride. Ask them to locate this Service Bulletin and implement the fixe(s). Let us know if it works on your 2016, please. Have them look up PIT5318B:

 

#PIT5318B: Wind Buffeting Drone Type Noise And/Or Body Pressure Booming And/Or Water Leak - (Jul 30, 2015)

Subject: Wind Buffeting Drone Type Noise And/Or Body Pressure Booming And/Or Water Leak

 

 

Models: 2015 Cadillac Escalade Models

2015 Chevrolet Suburban, Tahoe

2015 GMC Yukon Models

 

This PI was superseded to update Recommendation/Instructions. Please discard PIT5318A.

 

The following diagnosis might be helpful if the vehicle exhibits the symptom(s) described in this PI.

 

Condition/Concern

 

Note: In some cases, correcting the roof bows may not eliminate the body pressure booming issue due to the fact that the roof is being excited by some other input(s). These other areas will need to be addressed if the body pressure booming is still present at the completion of this PI. Examples of inputs that can excite the roof may be:

 

Tires with excessive road force (Reference "condition 1" in the latest version of PI1354)

Exhaust back pressure valve issues (Reference the latest version of PIT5404)

Rear axle related issues such as pitchline runout (Reference "Other Sources of Vibrations" Step 3 in the latest version of PI1354)

 

Some owners may comment of a wind buffeting/droan noise or body/pressure booming (the feeling of pressure in the ears) while driving. The body booming issue may be more noticeable when the engine is in V4 mode for active fuel management (AFM). In some cases, they may also notice a water leak from the headliner area, if equipped with a sunroof.

 

These concerns could be caused by the roof sheet metal no longer being attached fully to the roof bows (1). On trucks with a sunroof, it may be noticed that the rear edge of the sunroof glass is considerably lower than the roof (2). This is due to the roof sheet metal being detached from the roof bow directly behind the sunroof opening (3).

Object ID: 3973291Click here for detailed picture of the image.

 

Object ID: 3973293Click here for detailed picture of the image.

 

Object ID: 3973294Click here for detailed picture of the image.

 

Recommendation/Instructions

 

To correct this concern, apply panel vibration control material between the roof bow and roof sheet metal, along with foam shim material when necessary.

 

Remove the headliner to access the underside of the roof. Inspect all 4 roof bows for insufficient bonding to the roof sheet metal (4). Any roof bow that is not bonded to the sheet metal will need to be repaired.

Object ID: 3973295Click here for detailed picture of the image.

 

Use the following repair for all 4 bows on trucks without a sunroof, and for the 3 rear bows on trucks with a sunroof:

 

Use a plastic scraper or similar tool to remove the old foam. Measure the gap between the top of the roof bow and bottom of the roof sheet metal. If the gap is 1/4" (6mm) or greater, use a combination of 3/4" wide by 5/16" or 7/16" thick foam shim material (as listed below) to fill the gap between the roof bow and the sheet metal. Care should be taken to add only the correct thickness of foam to fill the gap so it does not push up on the roof. Cut the foam into 5 inch lengths and evenly place in five spots along the roof bow. With the foam shim material in place, or if the gap is less than 1/4" (6mm), use the panel control vibration material (as listed below) to fill the voids between the roof bow and sheet metal. In some cases, it may take a couple layers of material to fill the void.

 

Repair for 1st bow on trucks with a sunroof:

 

Using a plastic scraper or similar tool, remove the old foam. Use the panel control vibration material (listed below) and apply along the top of the 1st roof bow. Obtain two 2x4 pieces of wood long enough to span the opening of the sunroof. Wrap one of the 2x4's with a cloth to protect the roof paint and place it on top of the roof, see NOTE below. Place the second 2x4 underneath the roof bow, sandwiching the roof sheet metal and roof bow between the two pieces of wood. Clamp everything together using three C-clamps as shown in the photo below (5 & 6). The clamps will need to stay in place until the panel control vibration material is dry.

 

Note: When placing the cloth wrapped 2x4 on the top/roof, pay close attention that it is far enough forward so that the 2x4's rear edge does not contact the roof's raised ribs. The roof ribs may be damaged/dented if the 2x4 is placed on them when clamped down

Object ID: 3973296Click here for detailed picture of the image.

 

Does this actually fix the issue?

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Hi 16DenaliGuy,

 

We recognize your frustration with the vibration in your newly purchased 2016 Yukon Denali. This certainly isn't the impression and experience we want you to have with your vehicle. It's good to hear you notified your dealer immediately and they've been looking into this further for you. We'd like the opportunity to contact them on your behalf for additional clarification and to provide any assistance on our end. Please send us a private message with your contact info, VIN, current mileage and the involved dealer. We'll be on the lookout for your message and any updates.

 

Sincerely,

 

Eddie A.

GM Customer Care

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Does this actually fix the issue?

Nope! Didn't on mine. Didn't on any others..check out the thread "2015 Yukon Noise In Cabin" on this same forum. In fact, not one person has reported that the roof repair corrected the buffeting or vibration problems.

 

Speaking of vibration problems, go check out the thread on the pickup side of the website, for the 2104- trucks. 10 times the umber of posts and people with vibration/shake issues. And buy-backs. And on and on. GM has no fix for these vehicles. All the new platform full size trucks and SUV seem to have a vibration, and the SUVs have the added issue of the buffeting/drone noise. And yes, the ride is exceptionally harsh and you feel and hear every little bump and nugget on the road. Which adds to the vibration and buffeting. And it really sucks.

 

Read some of the posts. Will help you when working with your dealer. But so far, no one has reported a fixed vehicle. Some got better, whatever "better" looks like. But I don't see a actually fix that has been repeatable. Except the folks that dumped their Silverado or Sierra, and bought a Dodge. They sure seem to be happy!! The rest of us are suffering along. My ONLY silver lining in all the is I tell everyone and anyone who will,often about my $85,000 Denali Yukon and show them pictures of the roof all tore apart, and show them the tens of thousands of posts and reads on this thread and the pickup thread. It's great to see their eyes almost pop out if their heads, their jaws drop to the floor, shake their heads and "geez, that's brutal,". No shit.

 

You reading this, Eddie! You should be. You and the rest of the customer service folks have been totally silent on this issue. You all in their is no fix. Why can't GM at least be honest with us. At least give us that amount of due respect.

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How many of these vehicles had sunroofs? Any without sunroof experiencing the same issues?

There was a fair bit of discussion throughout the thread regarding which version of the vehicle was affected and with which of the numerous options. As I recall, it didn't seem to matter. Short of long (ie Tahoe/Yukon or Suburban/Yukon XL), low trim level or high trim level, roof rack bars, no roof rack bars, sunroof or no sunroof, 18", 20" or 22" wheels, noise cancellation or no noise cancellation....nothing seemed to correlate. They all seemed to be doing it. Now, different owners reported different degree of noise and vibration. Some claimed no issues. Some said they barely notice it. Others report it is severe. My opinion on that is that all humans have a very different threshold of when a noise or vibration is a bother. Some people live right next to a freeway and they don't even notice it. Others can't stand the sound of a wind turbine running 2 miles away! I think this phenomenon plays into what the fleet of vehicles appears to behave differently.

 

I've driven about 6 of these vehicles over the last year, all rentals while ours was in the shop for a week or so at a time. All different configurations - short, long, loaded, moderate options, 6.2l, 5.3l, brand new, some milage, etc.

They all had vibration and buffeting noise. As far as I'm concerned, it is an inherent design flaw in the vehicle.

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I haven't heard of any series of work done on a vehicle with these problems which have been reported as resolved. GM is ignoring this issue to the extent purchasers are not being informed such a problem might exist in their vehicle...further, they continue to misrepresent the seats as laying flat when folded down. $900 million later they might understand ignoring a problem is expensive. I wonder if an injunction preventing further manufacturing and sales of Tahoe/Yukon/Escalades might get their attention.

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Dealer called late this afternoon and said that they are still working on the issues but now they need to call in a GM field technician.

 

GM Field Tech happened to be onsite yesterday. They say the vibration issue has been resolved with the road force balancing. They started working on the buffeting noise today and I am sure all of the day tomorrow. They are waiting to hear back from the tech to see if the 2016 is IDENTICAL to the 2015 where the PI references. I am 99% sure it is. I also asked them to have the GM call me tomorrow so that I can ensure he is fully aware of what is going on should they not be able to fix this. I will say the past few days has made me sure to never consider an Acadia.

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Still at the dealers but they did have a GM field tech have a go at it. 2 of the tires that were earlier road forced balance were replaced when they were now found to be "out of spec"! That did not fix the problem as the dealership stated. Rear end gears were checked and they were in spec. Waiting on parts for the headliner fix as per the technical service bulletin for the leaking sunroof, roof bow issue.

 

More to come...................

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