The Lemon Index$11,300 middle bill · most between $10,000 and $12,000
Higher than the $8,000 middle bill owners of all 168 models reported.
2016–2021 GMC Yukon XL
GMC Yukon XL owners reported paying a median of $11,300 for a engine replacement, with the middle half of bills between $10,000 and $12,000. That's from 9 owner reports (9 complaints to NHTSA). Costs vary by shop and region.
What owners paid
- Under $5000%
- $500–$1,0000%
- $1,000–$2,5000%
- $2,500–$5,0000%
- $5,000 and up100%
Share of the 9 owner reports in each price band.
By model year
- 2016 GMC Yukon XL1too few for a middle
- 2017 GMC Yukon XL2too few for a middle
- 2018 GMC Yukon XL1too few for a middle
- 2019 GMC Yukon XL2too few for a middle
- 2020 GMC Yukon XL1too few for a middle
- 2021 GMC Yukon XL2too few for a middle
Reports per model year, with the middle bill where there are 3 or more. YouTube amounts count for the generation the video covers.
How often owners report the failure
- 2023 GMC Yukon XL82 complaints name it36% of that year's complaints
- 2021 GMC Yukon XL67 complaints name it28% of that year's complaints
- 2022 GMC Yukon XL67 complaints name it38% of that year's complaints
- 2024 GMC Yukon XL33 complaints name it44% of that year's complaints
- 2019 GMC Yukon XL12 complaints name it18% of that year's complaints
- 2020 GMC Yukon XL8 complaints name it17% of that year's complaints
Owner complaints to NHTSA whose own words name a engine failure. Raw counts: popular years get more complaints. A complaint is a report, not proof of a defect.
Engines in these years
5.3 V8 (L83 / L84) · 6.2 V8 (L86 / L87)
Engines with a page of their own that this model was sold with in the years above. Owners don't always say which engine they had.
Keep going
- GMC Yukon XL reliability by year
- Engine replacement cost on every car
- Car symptoms and what they can mean
Other repairs GMC Yukon XL owners reported
Brake repair (14) · ABS module replacement (8) · Transmission replacement (6) · Lifter replacement (5)
The details
How we count
Every number here is a repair bill an owner reported, never a shop's price list. Two sources: the bills owners wrote in their own complaints to the U.S. government (NHTSA), and the dollar amounts owners said out loud in YouTube repair and ownership videos. A figure counts for a repair when that repair is the part named nearest to it. Left out: purchase prices, payments, rentals, towing, warranties and deductibles, amounts under $50 or over $15,000, parts-only prices ("the part was $80 on Amazon"), bills for two different repairs named together, and money someone else paid. One number per complaint (or video) and repair: the biggest, so it's the bill, not the diagnosis fee.
The range is the middle half of the bills (the 25th to the 75th percentile), so one wild number can't swing it. Owners who complain to the government often had expensive repairs, so a typical bill can be lower. Costs vary by shop and region, by dealer vs independent shop, by parts and by miles. This is what owners reported, not a quote for your car.
Check the bills yourself
NHTSA complaint numbers (search them at nhtsa.gov): 11770796, 11749853, 11735606, 11725128, 11713229, 11702865, 11700237, 11683999, 11533279.
Quick answers
How much does engine replacement cost on a GMC Yukon XL?
GMC Yukon XL owners reported a median of $11,300, and the middle half paid $10,000 to $12,000, from 9 owner reports. Costs vary by shop and region.
Is a GMC Yukon XL engine replacement more expensive than on other cars?
The GMC Yukon XL middle bill of $11,300 is higher than the $8,000 owners of all 168 models we have reports for paid.
Where do these GMC Yukon XL repair costs come from?
From 9 complaints to NHTSA: what owners themselves said they paid. They aren't verified bills or a shop's quote.
Which GMC Yukon XL years report this failure most?
In complaints to NHTSA, owners of the 2023 (82), 2021 (67), 2022 (67) GMC Yukon XL named it most. Raw counts, not a failure rate.
Sources: NHTSA owner complaints and YouTube videos (amounts said out loud), sorted by The Lemon Index. Owner reports, not a price quote. Costs vary by shop and region.