thefrey
TYF Newbie
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2025
- Posts
- 24
- Reaction score
- 16
I’ve been lurking around here for the past couple weeks so I figured I should do a formal intro. My name is Josh. Here’s the Yukon:
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2013 Yukon XL Denali AWD with the 6.2. Metallic black paint. I picked it up in January with 197k miles for 4k (which I feel like was a pretty solid deal) but oh boy she needed (and still needs) some TLC. It’s in decent shape for a 12 year old car in my opinion considering its past and the interior is in pretty good shape. Countless trips to the junkyard have helped me fix lots of cosmetic issues and made it much more functional
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Here’s some before / after photos of the interior detail. They didn’t use any floormats so a deep clean with an extractor (and covering them with weather mats) did wonders
Other things I’ve done so far is:
- Install, rewire & repaint 3rd brake light/rear spoiler (didn’t have one)
- Rewire headlight clip
- Install gas struts for rear window
- Install new rear window button
- fixed broken rear window defroster tab
- Re-installed random missing trim pieces in cab
- New license plate, brake, parking, headlight and other bulbs
- Took off passenger side running board. They were the automatic ones and one of them was broken off and the passenger side was stuck down
- New tires
- Fixed rear windshield wiper
- Oil pressure switch
- Fixed broken windshield washer lines
- Programmed 2 new key fobs. Didn’t come with any
Things I need to do:
- fix oil cooler line leak
- fix 3 of 4 door handles (broken or missing)
- possibly engine mounts
- chase flickering lights
- chase valve train tick
- fix some rust and body damage
- new rims as the OEM chrome is peeling / leaking
Overall, yes it is a decent project, and outside of oil changes and changing brakes I do not have a crazy amount of experience working with cars, but I enjoy it and am very comfortable turning a wrench and working with my hands and I’m not afraid to do something I haven’t done before. This will be a great learning experience for me in the end and I hope to get the Yukon to 275k miles at least.
Thank you everyone already for the advice I have received and thank you for any future input, I hope to be able to give back as much as I can
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2013 Yukon XL Denali AWD with the 6.2. Metallic black paint. I picked it up in January with 197k miles for 4k (which I feel like was a pretty solid deal) but oh boy she needed (and still needs) some TLC. It’s in decent shape for a 12 year old car in my opinion considering its past and the interior is in pretty good shape. Countless trips to the junkyard have helped me fix lots of cosmetic issues and made it much more functional

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Here’s some before / after photos of the interior detail. They didn’t use any floormats so a deep clean with an extractor (and covering them with weather mats) did wonders
Other things I’ve done so far is:
- Install, rewire & repaint 3rd brake light/rear spoiler (didn’t have one)
- Rewire headlight clip
- Install gas struts for rear window
- Install new rear window button
- fixed broken rear window defroster tab
- Re-installed random missing trim pieces in cab
- New license plate, brake, parking, headlight and other bulbs
- Took off passenger side running board. They were the automatic ones and one of them was broken off and the passenger side was stuck down
- New tires
- Fixed rear windshield wiper
- Oil pressure switch
- Fixed broken windshield washer lines
- Programmed 2 new key fobs. Didn’t come with any
Things I need to do:
- fix oil cooler line leak
- fix 3 of 4 door handles (broken or missing)
- possibly engine mounts
- chase flickering lights
- chase valve train tick
- fix some rust and body damage
- new rims as the OEM chrome is peeling / leaking
Overall, yes it is a decent project, and outside of oil changes and changing brakes I do not have a crazy amount of experience working with cars, but I enjoy it and am very comfortable turning a wrench and working with my hands and I’m not afraid to do something I haven’t done before. This will be a great learning experience for me in the end and I hope to get the Yukon to 275k miles at least.
Thank you everyone already for the advice I have received and thank you for any future input, I hope to be able to give back as much as I can
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