At around 7pm on Sunday October 18th I was driving on an interstate at about 80mph in the far left lane (of 3 Lanes) when, without any warning whatsoever, the engine power completely shutoff and the car went into neutral. The dash screen said to start the engine due to no power or low battery. I hit the start button and all the lights including all controls, blinkers, dash lights shut off. So with no blinkers, no lights, no power brakes, no power steering we were coasting in the fast lane of a usually unsafe stretch of an interstate at night. Luckily, I was able to navigate without any power to the right shoulder (lucky this was a stretch that had a shoulder) and coast to a stop. I had my wife and 4 kids in the car with me. The car was dead and said the engine battery was low. When the engine start button was pushed nothing happened, car was dead with no heat. We called onstar and requested a tow and were able to order a Lyft ride for my wife and 4 kids. The Lyft driver came to pick them up on the adjacent frontage road and they had to run across the grass median to get into that car, there was no other option to get them off of the unsafe shoulder. I stayed with the car with no power while cars and 18 wheelers speed by me while sitting on the shoulder without any lights or flashers. A highway patrol officer pulled up behind me and when he tried to open the passenger door he was unable to . I was LOCKED INSIDE THE CAR! Luckily the door unlock eventually worked and the door opened. The Patrol office stayed behind me on the shoulder of the interstate while we waited for a tow truck since it was such an unsafe situation. Due to the vehicle not being able to be put into neutral or any gear, it required a specific type of tow truck that was hard to find on a Sunday evening. It was towed to a dealer and diagnosis is catastrophic engine failure with full engine seize. Needs a full engine replacement. Assuming this is part of the massive recall on 6.2L V8 engines. SCARY!
GMC Yukon XL warning lights comes on
17 of the 2,462 owner complaints about the GMC Yukon XL describe multiple warning lights, most of them for the 2023 model year.
- owner complaints
- 17
- worst model year
- 2023
- typical mileage
- 72,200
By model year
- 20243
- 20235
- 20222
- 20212
- 20151
- 20111
- 20081
- 20051
- 20041
Often reported together
Engine failure 7Check engine light 7Won't start 3Misfire 3Loss of power 2Brake failure 2Won't shift 1
Trouble codes mentioned
P0303 1P0300 1
What owners say
I purchased this vehicle 06/14/2026 The vehicle dash started lighting up like a Christmas tree. It was taken to GM Ed Morse Freedom Chevrolet X 3 separate occasions. The lights in the dash were intermittent. Dealership couldn't duplicate the issue. I was told if they aren't active they can't duplicate. The vehicle continued to illuminate on and off after it was returned July 26th. Then August 23 i was driving and it died right in the highway putting me in a bad spot in traffic. I. There was no illuminated symbols in the dash it just died as the symbols them lit up in the dash. I had it towed by AAA thinking just a battery or starter. I was told by GM dealership the engine seized. Propulsion, metal in the oil and the crankshaft failure. The exact recall problem. My Vin fell just outside of GM internal N252494003 program of 150,000 10 year extended warranty. I have 114, 689. 2021 yukon Denali. THE exact engine failure GM put out. GM is refusing to replace the engine. The engine has been torn down. I received pictures of my claim above. It's still at GM . I've opened a corporate GM case. I'm hitting a brick wall
6/16 Vehicle issues while driving home from work. Rough idle, multiple check engine lights coming on, Multiple warnings display on dashboard. Vehicle in limp mode from work to home. 6/20 While driving in Roanoke rough idle began. Vehicle check engine light appeared, limp mode only lasted for less than 30 seconds before it went back to normal. 6/23 Vehicle issues began again while driving to work. Pulled into parking lot, turned vehicle off and restarted. Vehicle seemed back to normal. Made appointment through GMC App for first available on 6/29. Leaving work vehicle check engine lights came on again and went into limp mode. 26,764 miles. Drove straight over to Hart GMC (2 miles away) and dropped it off. 6/30 Picked up Vehicle at Hart GMC. Miss fire on cylinder #3. Replaced spark plug #3 and cleared all dtcs codes. 8/6 Oil Change with Consumption Test started 29,072 miles 8/28 Engine Oil Low-Add Oil alarm. Instructed by dealer to not tamper with Test. Must drive 2000 miles before returning vehicle to validate consumption test. 29,728 miles 8/30 Pulling into drive way rough idle began. Vehicle check engine light appeared, limp mode, multiple lights. Scanned with OBD2 scanner- P0303 code. Misfire cylinder 3. 8/31 Vehicle towed from home to Hart motors 29,860 miles. Scanned by service showing P0300 codes along with other codes. I have documented all events with this engine since owning. Concerned the engine would run out of oil before validating consumption test (2000 miles). Dealer told me to keep driving even if it says add oil. Engine historically 2 qts low when add oil warning flashes.
I am reporting a severe, recurring, and life-threatening manufacturing defect involving a sudden, catastrophic loss of motive power at highway speeds on the interstate. This vehicle has suffered two identical valvetrain failures that placed my passengers and nearby motorists in extreme danger. Incident 1 (Approx. 40,000 miles): While traveling at high speed on the interstate, the vehicle violently shook, all engine warning lights flashed, and the engine suffered an immediate, near-total loss of propulsion. The vehicle was towed to an authorized GMC dealership, where technicians diagnosed a collapsed Dynamic Fuel Management (DFM) hydraulic lifter in Cylinder 3. The lifter bank was replaced under the factory powertrain warranty. Incident 2 (Approx. 77,000 miles): While driving at high speed on the interstate, the exact same vehicle behavior occurred. The engine suffered a sudden, total loss of power, and all dashboard warning lights illuminated simultaneously. Out of absolute necessity and to avoid a catastrophic high-speed collision on a dangerous stretch of highway, the severely crippled vehicle had to be forced through active interstate traffic without proper engine power all the way to my home. The vehicle has since been inspected by a GMC dealership, which has confirmed that the exact same Cylinder 3 lifter has failed a second time. The dealership and the GMC Regional Service Manager are currently refusing to honor the 24-month dealer-installed service parts warranty, demanding an out-of-pocket deposit of $5,000, and denying alternative transportation. GM's failure to permanently remediate this known, systemic valvetrain defect has twice left me navigating a failing vehicle through high-speed highway traffic, heavily compounding the safety risk.
On [XXX] brake system failure, service ESC, Forward Collision system unavailable and check engine lights came on the dashboard and the vehicle had no brakes. Taken to dealership and Conley GMC advised the Main Module was burnt out. $1200.00. Car was “fixed” and sent out. The next morning all the check engine light along with all other failure lights came on after module was replaced. Taken back to dealership and they advised that everything had to be manually programmed which was done and sent out. [XXX] same dashboard errors were up again. Taken back to dealership and they advised they needed to reprogram manually that was done and sent out. The next morning all lights were back on. It was the weekend so they wouldn’t take the car or provide a rental. May 23rd car was taken back to dealership and Conley advised the master cylinder was bad and had to order parts. $4300.00 in repair cost along with 2.5 week at the dealership and $150.00 in rental cost. I found online that GM knew of this issue with the 2022 GMC Yukon XL vehicles and a recall was made however this vehicle VIN number was not included in this recall. I notified Conley GMC and they stated they were not informed of this issue. I made a claim with GM and told them of this issue and my safety concerns and they advised that because this was not included in the recall that there was nothing they could do and they would not be covering financial assistance or reimbursement and they called this an inconvenience instead of a real safety issue as each time my vehicle had no working brakes. No working brakes causes safety concerns for everyone in the vehicle as well as other vehicles. All work orders are at Conley Buick GMC in Bradenton, Fl. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
First incident April 9 2024 not even a month after purchased. Vehicle dashboard lit up light a Christmas tree all warning lights while driving on highway. Vehicle shook and sputtered and turned off. The vehicle was serviced explanation given was loose spark plugs on a new vehicle. 2nd incident roughly month after recall repair for engine propulsion campaign. February 26 and 27 2026 . While driving the following lights came on Engine failure ,Brake failure , Service Transmission now unable to shift soon. I was terrified because I could not control the vehicle. I had the vehicle towed to the dealership. The answer to the issues was Battery failure. Third incident April 17th 2026 I driving on highway 70 miles check engine light comes on flashes dashboard goes dark. Vechicle sputters and shut down. I restarted the vehicle the warning on the display disappeared and the vehicle restarted. I reached returned the vehicle again to the dealership because the problem resumed slowing down even though I’m depressing the gas. Vehicle is shifting and dragging. Resulting unexpected lurching. My vehicle has been at the dealership since end of April 2026 it remains there currently. My representative stated a code indicating misfiring has appeared 18 times. Also everyday my vehicle keeps saying software update even I installed the update and it says complete. I know GM is not updating my vehicle software everyday. That indicates there is a computer issue as well. My anxiety level is through the roof at this point. I complained before about this same failures in a Cadillac Escalade prior to it lurching forward and crashing. I filed a complaint before February 2024 . There is something really wrong with GM engines and software. I know I’m not the only one experiencing these problems
Purchase this Vehicle November 1st 2025 as a GM certified used vehicle. Had several issues with the camera system including the backup camera. Would go offline and not be usable for days. Vehicle went back to shop several times for this with no resolution. Now February 18th 2026 at approximately 630PM EST (after sunset) on the way into work traveling on the highway the engine lost power and engine shutdown. Vehicle shifted into neutral with the indication to press the start button in order to shift into Drive. This cause all of the lights to shutdown when it tried to start the engine. I was barely able to pull this over to the shoulder before I lost forward motion. Narrow shoulder. Tried to restart again with the same results. Call towing company. They attempted to jump start vehicle. Same results. All power shutdown. Truck was loaded onto flatbed and towed to dealership. Dealership states bad battery. Got authorization to replace battery from the dealer in which I purchased the truck. hey attempted to start and then it burned out the main fuse. They determined that the engine had seized and they were going to replace the engine. I looked up to find that GM had performed the engine oil replacement procedure in June of 2025. This vehicle is listed in the "recall" for defective L87 engines. Clearly changing the oil had no effect to remedy the issue. I have no faith that the new engine will not fail the same way this one did.
Details of the Issue: Vehicle Model: 2023 GMC Yukon Problem Description: The battery has drained completely on three separate occasions, leaving the vehicle unable to start and in cold weather areas safety is a concern. This occurs even when all lights and accessories are turned off, and the vehicle is parked for a reasonable period of time. The vehicle has been brought to the shop three times to address this issue. During one of these visits, a module failure was identified and repaired. However, the issue has occurred again since that repair, indicating that either the original repair did not fully resolve the problem or there may be additional underlying causes. Frequency: The issue has occurred three times to date, most recently on [insert date of the most recent incident]. Service History: The vehicle has been in the shop three times for this issue, and a module failure was identified and repaired during one of these visits. Troubleshooting Steps Taken: I have ensured that no lights or accessories are left on when the vehicle is parked. The battery terminals have been inspected for corrosion, and the connections are secure. [Include any other steps you’ve taken, e.g., "The battery was tested and confirmed to be in good condition."] Request for Assistance: Given the recurring nature of this issue and the fact that it has not been fully resolved despite multiple service visits, I would like to request the following: A more in-depth diagnostic to identify any additional root causes, including potential parasitic drains, alternator performance, or software-related issues. Confirmation of whether there are any recalls, technical service bulletins (TSBs), or known issues related to the electrical system or battery for this model. Consideration for extended warranty coverage or goodwill assistance to address this issue, as it appears to be related to a manufacturing defect. Since warranty coverage is up my vehicle cost is going to increase due to repeatable issues.
On Thursday August 14 while driving our traction control light and engine light came on along with the ESC light while traveling out of state. The car felt like we were driving on a rumble strip. We immediately took it to the nearest auto repair shop, only a few minutes away. They reset the battery and dash lights and we took it for a test drive. All the lights came back on after a couple of feet and loud knocking sounds started. Our emissions light then also came on and a strong exhaust smell was emitted. Each time the engine was started the knocking grew louder and the engine was severely struggling and sounded very wrong . The shop put their diagnostic tool to use and identified misfiring on cylinder 5. Upon further inspection they identified camshaft irreparable failure. We had it towed to the Platteville WI GMC Dealership Friday Aug 15. Where they confirmed camshaft failure and informed us our engine needed total replacement. Our safety was at risk since our engine failed while exiting the highway.
Speed control became stuck and I had to hit my breaks to stop acceleration. Vehicle stopped shifting while driving down the road periodically. Warning collision lights and traction control lights randomly come on with nothing in front of vehicle. Yesterday vehicle would not start or even unlock. When I did get the vehicle to start by manually unlocking it and trying over and over it would not go forward or backward although the engine did rev up. All warning lights were on including traction control and check engine. It did randomly start moving but the “service steering column” light and check engine light are still on . The car periodically revs up while going down a hill when it needs to downshift instead. It has completely shut off driving down the road through town and stopped. I had to hurry and turn it back on as there were cars behind me. It’s a 2023 and I don’t feel safe driving it with my kids.
Related recalls
Electrical system: ignition
- What is wrong
- General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2011-2012 Cadillac Escalade, Escalade ESV, Escalade EXT, Chevrolet Avalanche, Silverado HD, Silverado LD, Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Sierra LD, Sierra HD, Yukon, and Yukon XL vehicles. In the affected vehicles, the ignition lock actuator may bind, making turning the key difficult or causing the ignition to get stuck in the "Start" position.
- Risk
- If stuck in the "Start" position, the ignition may suddenly snap back into the "Accessory" position, causing a loss of engine, steering, and braking power, increasing the risk of a vehicle crash. If the vehicle is in a crash, the air bags may not deploy, increasing the risk of occupant injury.
- Remedy
- GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and replace the ignition lock housing, as necessary, free of charge. The recall began on February 12, 2015. Owners may contact GM customer service at 1‑800‑458‑8006 (Cadillac), 1‑800‑222‑1020 (Chevrolet), or 1‑800‑462‑8782 (GMC). GM's number for this recall is 14696 for the original equipment, and 14912 for the service replacement parts.
Recall number 14V827000 · Recall details
Electrical system
- What is wrong
- General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2013-2014 Cadillac CTS, Escalade, Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Yukon, and Yukon XL, and 2014 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Express, Impala, Silverado HD, Traverse, GMC Acadia, Savana, and Sierra HD vehicles. In the affected vehicles, the chassis electronic module may be internally contaminated, resulting in an electrical short.
- Risk
- If the module experiences an electrical short, the vehicle could stall, increasing the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the chassis electronic module, free of charge. The recall began on December 26, 2014. Owners may contact GM customer service at 1‑800‑521‑7300 (Buick), 1-800-458-006 (Cadillac), 1‑800‑222‑1020 (Chevrolet), and 1‑800‑462‑8782 (GMC). GMs number for this recall is 14515.
Recall number 14V614000 · Recall details
Electrical system
- What is wrong
- Gm is recalling certain model year 2006-2009 buick, lucerne; cadillac dts; hummer h2; model year 2008-2009 buick enclave; cadillac cts; model year 2007-2009 cadillac escalade, escalade esv, escalade ext; chevrolet avalanche, silverado, suburban, tahoe; gmc acadia, sierra, yukon, yukon xl; saturn outlook; and model year 2009 chevrolet traverse vehicles equipped with a heated washer fluid system (hwfs). A recall was implemented in 2008 to add a fuse to the control circuit harness to address the potential consequences of a printed circuit board (pcb) electrical short. However, there have been new reports of thermal incidents on hwfs modules after this improvement was installed. These incidents resulted from a new failure mode attributed to the device's thermal protection feature. The significance varies from minor distortion to considerable melting of the plastic around the hwfs fluid chamber.
- Risk
- It is possible for the heated washer module to ignite and a fire may occur.
- Remedy
- Dealers will permanently disable and remove the heated washer fluid module. An updated page for the owner manual will be provided and inserted in the owner manual to document that the feature has been permanently disabled and removed from the vehicle. The safety recall began on june 11, 2010. Owners may contact buick at 1‑866‑608‑8080, cadillac at 1‑866‑982‑2339, chevrolet at 1‑800‑630‑2438, saturn at 1‑800‑972‑8876, gmc at 1‑866‑996‑9463 and hummer at 1‑800‑732‑5493 or at the owner center at www.gmownercenter.com.
Recall number 10V240000 · Recall details
Electrical system
- What is wrong
- Gm is recalling 857,735 my 2006-2008 buick lucerne; cadillac dts; hummer h2; my 2007-2008 cadillac escalade, escalade esv, escalade ext; chevrolet avalanche, silverado, suburban, tahoe; gmc acadia, sierra, yukon, yukon xl, saturn outlook; and my 2008 buick enclave vehicles equipped with a heated wiper washer fluid system. A short circuit on the printed circuit board for the washer fluid heater may overheat the control-circuit ground wire.
- Risk
- This may cause other electrical features to malfunction, create an odor, or cause smoke increasing the risk of a fire.
- Remedy
- Dealers will install a wire harness with an in-line fuse free of charge. The recall began on september 12, 2008. Owners may contact buick at 1‑866‑608‑8080; cadillac at 1‑800‑982‑2339 or http://www.cadillac.com; chevrolet at 1‑800‑630‑2438; saturn at 1‑800‑972‑8876 or http://www.saturn.com, gmc at 1‑866‑996‑9436; or hummer at 1‑800‑732‑5493; or through their website at http://www.gmownercenter.com .
Recall number 08V441000 · Recall details
Questions about the GMC Yukon XL warning lights
Why does the warning lights come on in the GMC Yukon XL?
Owners who report it most often also describe engine failure, check engine light and won't start, and the codes they mention most are P0303 and P0300.
Which GMC Yukon XL years have multiple warning lights problems?
The model years with the most reports are 2023 (5 complaints), 2024 (3 complaints) and 2021 (2 complaints).
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