2016 Yukon XL Denali - buffeting/excessive vibration - follow along

yahtzee · September 16, 2015

9/15/15 - I took delivery of my 2016 Yukon XL Denali around noon. This truck was DX'd from another dealership approximately 100 miles away and was driven here on Monday (9/14/15). I took a quick test drive and was focused on the buffeting issue. It was definitely there but didn't seem to be as bad as previous vehicles that I had driven. On my way home I noticed some severed vibrations above 70mph all the way up to about 80mph. I called the service department yesterday afternoon and made an appt for this morning. We needed the room that this vehicle provides fairly quickly (lots of travel with soccer, aging parents, etc. - my wife, two young daughters and two puppies less than a year old). Some say why didn't you just swap it out with another one? This configuration was exactly what I wanted and, unlike White Diamond, the Summit White's are hard to locate, especially a 2016.

9/16/15 - took car in and described in detail what i had experienced (the buffeting and the vibration). 3 hrs later they informed me that a GM representative happened to be onsite and that they found 3 of the 4 tires to be significantly out of balance (via road force balancing). They have 20-30 (I don't recall which exact number) tires in stock of the same exact model that's on my Yukon XL (22"). They are having to put a tire on a rim to get them all matched which should solve the vibration problem. I was put into a Chevy Impala from Enterprise (there is world championship bike race in town for the next week so all larger rentals are gone, apparently).

EDIT: They called me back and offered up a 2016 Acadia Denali from the dealership. Not a Yukon XL BUT certainly not an Impala. Stay tuned.

GMCustomerService · September 16, 2015

Yahtzee,

We've received your private message and will be following up with you there shortly. Thank you for your patience.

Sincerely,

Eddie A.

GM Customer Care

yahtzee · September 18, 2015

I just received a call from the service department. They said that they have replaced 2 of the 4 tires and that has eliminated the vibration issue as well as the buffeting issue. They want me to provide a thorough test drive before leaving with it. They also said that the PI/bulletin did not apply to 2016's if the noise had remained. We shall see how this plays out.

jasondenali15 · September 18, 2015

They road forced balanced mine too. Dealer was proclaiming it was fixed...not so much. GM repurchased. Keep an extra close listen/feel at 41-46 mph. I found 43 mph would just make the whole truck thud. Seriously hope it works for you. Keep us posted. Surprised to hear the bulletin does not apply to the 2016s. They have already shown to demonstrate the same issues as the 2015 (as expressed by 2016 owners on this forum already). Every time I think the figured it out...

Eddie A.: Welcome back to the forum...it's been a while. Hope you folks are paying attention.

yahtzee · September 18, 2015

They road forced balanced mine too. Dealer was proclaiming it was fixed...not so much. GM repurchased. Keep an extra close listen/feel at 41-46 mph. I found 43 mph would just make the whole truck thud. Seriously hope it works for you. Keep us posted. Surprised to hear the bulletin does not apply to the 2016s. They have already shown to demonstrate the same issues as the 2015 (as expressed by 2016 owners on this forum already). Every time I think the figured it out...

Eddie A.: Welcome back to the forum...it's been a while. Hope you folks are paying attention.

9/18/15 - I picked up the truck a little while ago and it is dramatically different, in a good way. The vibration is completely gone. The buffeting is better but it definitely still exists. I had a tech take a 30+ ride with me. He was fantastic in his professionalism, his knowledge and overall representation of the GM brand (George, if you are reading, thanks for your efforts). He was telling me how the road force balancing took car of the vibration and some of the buffeting but that in all reality these trucks are built way different than they used to be. Especially on 22" wheels, the feedback that is sent through the vehicle from the road is felt much more in these trucks. I am not sure how a 2016 model year truck could start production on a Monday after 2015 production ended the previous Friday yet the PI not apply to it. That said, I am thankful at this point they didn't pull the headliner. If it gets to that point, fine, but day 5 of ownership? I have 250 miles on it and am going to give it another 250 to see if things improve at all. I think there are varying levels of sensitivity across owners of this truck. My bet is that this buffeting occurs in EVERY 2015 and 2016 vehicle but some deal with it, some are used to worse noises/feelings and some simply speak up.

Is anyone aware of one single truck having this problem, doing through various troubleshooting/PI's and walking away with a quiet truck?

yahtzee · September 19, 2015

9/19/15 - Go outside to head to a day of soccer games and truck starts up...after 5 seconds of idling it sounds like it is running out of gas (over half full). I turn it off and try to start it again with no luck. It's putting out a serious rotten egg smell but will not start. Have a call into service this morning. Happy week one (not even a week) of GM ownership.

yahtzee · September 19, 2015

Onstar call for diagnostics - codes P0506 & P0106 - air intake control system is not operating as expected. Monitors air flowing into the engine. Experienced lack of power, rough idle, rotten egg smell, etc.

Truck got towed to dealership but won't get looked at until Monday. Gave me a 15 Yukon XL SLE (which also has buffeting issue).

Wrench589 · September 20, 2015

Ours had a similar problem. Driving down the highway it suddenly lost power. Would coast to a rest, then start running OK, only to do it again a mile later. Ended up being the lift pump in the fuel tank. None in western Canada, so took a week to get the parts. Running good since. Took the dealer a couple days to figure it out based on the diagnostic codes and such.

Got-Boost? · September 20, 2015

Onstar call for diagnostics - codes P0506 & P0106 - air intake control system is not operating as expected. Monitors air flowing into the engine. Experienced lack of power, rough idle, rotten egg smell, etc.

Truck got towed to dealership but won't get looked at until Monday. Gave me a 15 Yukon XL SLE (which also has buffeting issue).

Anymore issues like this and it's a sign, either get another or buy something else...

Pinnacle · October 14, 2015

9/18/15 - I picked up the truck a little while ago and it is dramatically different, in a good way. The vibration is completely gone. The buffeting is better but it definitely still exists. I had a tech take a 30+ ride with me. He was fantastic in his professionalism, his knowledge and overall representation of the GM brand (George, if you are reading, thanks for your efforts). He was telling me how the road force balancing took car of the vibration and some of the buffeting but that in all reality these trucks are built way different than they used to be. Especially on 22" wheels, the feedback that is sent through the vehicle from the road is felt much more in these trucks. I am not sure how a 2016 model year truck could start production on a Monday after 2015 production ended the previous Friday yet the PI not apply to it. That said, I am thankful at this point they didn't pull the headliner. If it gets to that point, fine, but day 5 of ownership? I have 250 miles on it and am going to give it another 250 to see if things improve at all. I think there are varying levels of sensitivity across owners of this truck. My bet is that this buffeting occurs in EVERY 2015 and 2016 vehicle but some deal with it, some are used to worse noises/feelings and some simply speak up.

Is anyone aware of one single truck having this problem, doing through various troubleshooting/PI's and walking away with a quiet truck?

If its buffeting then the vibration will come back.

I cant believe this is happening to the 2016's as well, its hard to believe how badly they screwed up this platform.

Get out of this vehicle now, while its still got trade in value.