Fix and Keep My 2015 GMC Yukon SLT or Get Rid of It?

I bought a 2015 Yukon XL SLT with 206k miles last week because I’ve been wanting to buy a cheap suv and this came in on trade at the dealership I work for last Saturday. I thought about it for a while and asked my boss if I could buy it for anywhere near what we paid on trade in. He sold it to me for $9000. Before I bought it I just paid one of our techs whose wife had same car and he Put it on a lift and said I’d need to buy shocks and struts for sure and should change spark plugs, oil, and flush all the fluids. It has the 22” wheels with brand new Michelin tires they just bought a couple months ago. He said the brakes were pretty new in front and rear. It wasn’t filthy but definitely looked like it had been driven a lot. I spent $1000 on detailing it, refinishing the wheels, matching front window tint, and fixing the tear in the seat and wear on console. It looks like a $30,000 to $40,000 truck. We have a 2020 with 89k mikes and is $40,980 and I think mines cosmetically in better shape.

Tonight I drove it home for the third time and was parking it and I was hitting the brakes a lot as I wanted to make sure I didn’t hit the mailbox as I’m not used to driving a 226” SUV. The Hill Assist light kept popping up and I hit the brake pedal pretty firmly and it depressed halfway. I know that can’t be good. Right now I have about 10k plus tax in it. I imagine shocks and struts installed will be at least $1200 to $1500 if I do a reputable brand. I was going to get the Billstein 5100 as I was told those are good but I don’t know anything about Shocks and struts to be honest the guy that checked it out won’t do any “side” work as he has a family and doesn’t want to spend anymore time at work then necessary (Can’t Blame him) so my choices are have a guy that’s worked in my BMWs and Infiniti work on it or take it to the dealer. So I was planning on having about $12000 in this truck.

However I know that won’t be the case with the new brake pedal issue. I’m worried I’m about to go down a rabbit hole I can’t afford to reAlly go down. I have a perfectly god running car and more or less bought this to appease my son as he wanted me to get something that didn’t look so dated (other car is 2006 Infiniti M35x) so I thought this would be a good solution as it looked pretty newish.

My questions are:

1. Any Idea About Brake Pedal being halfway depressed. (It didn’t appear to be leaking anything on the ground). I popped the hood and checked brake fluid reservoir and it was full.
2. Is It Worth taking it to the GMC dealership for repairs?
3. Is this just a bad idea spending money on fixing up a 200k mile 2015 GMC Yukon XL? Is this car well past its life span and not worth dumping money into it? I’ll be at 12k+ in the car with struts, shocks, spark plugs, fluids, and I’m assuming doing the spongy brake pedal could be an expensive fix.

I am worried this thing will be unGodly expensive to keep running. Anyone with experience on 200k plus ownership of a 2015 body style with 5.3?

I’ve attached some photos. It’s a good looking car but I don’t know if this is a good idea.

if there is no brake light and it stops then there is probably nothing wrong with the brakes, depending on how you were playing with the pedal and idle and vacuum it could do a variety of things.

Nice looking vehicle. Congratulations.

Check to make sure all the recalls were done on the vehicle. In early Yukons and siblings, there was a recall for the brake vacuum pump needing to be replaced.

Has the brake fluid been flushed? If so, it will be clear. Old brake fluid absorbs moisture and rust and the particles settle into the brake calipers and make them hang up, partially applying the brakes. Perhaps that’s why the PO had the brakes recently replaced? One or more of the calipers could be partially seized already and possibly contributing to your brake warning.

As a precaution of odd electrical problems popping up, replace the negative battery cable as it is known to corrode from the inside near the terminal with no external hint of the condition.

Your maintenance list was good. A few more things to go like cabin air filter. Have your mechanic check the front wheel bearings closely for noise or play. Bad bearings can trigger stability and abs alerts.

Doubeleive said:

if there is no brake light and it stops then there is probably nothing wrong with the brakes, depending on how you were playing with the pedal and idle and vacuum it could do a variety of things.

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No Brake Light. This is my first GM so I’ve only had German and Japanese cars until this point.

Welcome to the forum from Oregon.

Was there any previous paperwork provided for repairs and maintenance or just a CarFax?

"I spent $1000 on detailing it, refinishing the wheels, matching front window tint, and fixing the tear in the seat and wear on console. It looks like a $30,000 to $40,000 truck".

IMO, Any money spent for looks should take a back seat till the mechanicals are all addressed. You have to expect that a used truck with 200K+ miles will need some work.

MY 2005 Tahoe Z71 is "dated" but mechanically is a work horse. @Doubeleive and @RoadTrip are giving you good advice about expectations and known needs.

RoadTrip said:

Nice looking vehicle. Congratulations.

Check to make sure all the recalls were done on the vehicle. In early Yukons and siblings, there was a recall for the brake vacuum pump needing to be replaced.

Has the brake fluid been flushed? If so, it will be clear. Old brake fluid absorbs moisture and rust and the particles settle into the brake calipers and make them hang up, partially applying the brakes. Perhaps that’s why the PO had the brakes recently replaced? One or more of the calipers could be partially seized already and possibly contributing to your brake warning.

As a precaution of odd electrical problems popping up, replace the negative battery cable as it is known to corrode from the inside near the terminal with no external hint of the condition.

Your maintenance list was good. A few more things to go like cabin air filter. Have your mechanic check the front wheel bearings closely for noise or play. Bad bearings can trigger stability and abs alerts.

Click to expand...

Thank You. I think I’m going to just take it to a Chevy or GMC dealer and have them quote me everything. Do what’s affordable and then for the big labor hour jobs I’ll pay my friend $50 an hour on the side But he’s a master bmw tech not GMC. I’ve realized you get what you pay for so I’m not going to try to skimp out. Even if I spend more and end up with $15000 in it I hope it’ll last my son and I at least six years

You may want to attempt your hand at some of these repairs… RockAuto is a great place to start for part pricing. There are guys on here that post their discount codes (@OR VietVet is one of them if I remember right) and then a YouTube video or so and you are off to the races. I did front/rear shocks on my Burb and I think all 4 took me a combined 2hrs, I hit them with PB Blaster for a couple days and the bolts came off without any fuss.
Spark plugs should be easy too… no reason to pay someone IMO. I have not tackled a vacuum pump before but since this is a second vehicle for you, approach it from a cost perspective and do not overpay of services that are relatively “simple.”

… make your son join you because he drove the purchase lol

BringTheNoise said:

No Brake Light. This is my first GM so I’ve only had German and Japanese cars until this point.

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@200k you should look over carfax and see what has and has not been done maintenance wise, at least reportedly

I'd get rid of it, if you can recover your costs.

Welcome to the Forum from NH.

Lots of knowledgeable folks here who freely share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives. Knowledge is power.

I hope that you will become a participating member in the Forum's discussions.

You are already receiving sage advice from the knowledgeable folks on this Forum.

If you do any wrenching at all, you can perform some of those repairs yourself. For the basic stuff, a vehicle is a vehicle, no matter who makes it. Do what you can do yourself, by obtaining OEM GM parts from either RockAuto.com or GMPartsDirrect.com, as they are way cheaper than buying parts at the local dealer.

Also, for those repairs that you can't or don't want to do yourself, give your local friend mastertech an opportunity to perform those repairs, if he is willing, as I'm sure that he will be just fine technically working on your truck, and he will be much cheaper than the local dealer.