07-10 yukon xl denali awd 6.2

MARK VANDERBENT wrote:
Why would you not be a 6.2 fan ?? heard a lot of great things about this engine

I was............until I talked to a few people in the know and saw how the block was constructed.

I talked to a machinist that worked on these things since they came out. He said he would straighten out the line bore and get them perfect and when they could come in for a rebuild they would all twisted up again.

Looking at the bottom end I can see why. The heritage for this engine is a very light duty engine fit for a car or a 1/2 ton truck. It was designed and made with weight savings in mind. The whole bottom end of the block is mouse holed to save weight.

Couple that with the fact that aluminum is not the most stable material in the world and things are going to move around.

Now there will be some on here that say racing engines have nothing to do with towing. I disagree. Both racing and towing often takes engines to their limit.

GM also agrees with the machinist and me because there is a reason you don't see this engine in a 1 ton application.

All that being said is the LS a bad engine? Absolutely not! It's a great engine with great power that was designed to do light duty work.
After owning and working on several 6.5's and 6.2 diesels I had my fill of GM "light duty" engines.

Why hasn't GM stuffed that 6.2L gasser into +8K GVWR trucks/SUVs yet?

They own the warranty and the certification test approvals from agencies...

Maybe soon...but then ask what did they do to their warranty/agency/etc folks
to get them to sign off on product team production releases to manufacturing ?

The 7L Vette, small block is a wonderful engine, but NOT a 'truck' engine. 'Truck'
as in designed for 'work' and last a looooooooong time working within their
published ratings

I've driven a few. GREAT 'car' or 'light duty TV/SUV', but not for
me...I want/need +8K GVWR & +6K RGAWR

Ours is the 4x4 truck version, but the engine is the same and the weight is very close. Make sure you get the 6 speed transmission and the 3.73 rear if you are going to do any serious towing, especially in the mountains. We routinely tow 10K± in the western mountains with ours and have NO complaints. MPG varies greatly, depending on weather, road, terrain & speed. I have been as low as 5MPG to a high of 21MPG, with the towing average on flat terrain around 11MPG.

I would definitely be in the market for another 6.2L, if something happened to this one. Also, this one replaced our diesel 1T and there is NO way I would go back to diesel for any trailer 11K or under.

When shopping for our current TV about 4 years ago, I test drove a couple Ecoboost F-150s as well as the the Yukon Denali and 3/4 ton Burb. I hooked them all up to my TT. Power wise, the Ecoboost rules. Even my wife agreed from the passenger seat. The 6.2L was a close second, but the suspension did not pass a certain bouncy road test near my home. The 6.0L had the least power, but the suspension won us when it came down to favoring 3 rows of seats.

The 6.2L is all aluminum which some people question for durability under heavy duty use. The AWD system is another possible weak point for HD use. However, there are many of those SUVs with 200k+ miles on them, so real world does not seem to be a problem. Be careful of the air suspension.

My parents have the Cadillac version of that same truck (same generation, same 6.2). It tows well. Pulls a 7500 lb boat with ease.

One suggestion: the year range you're looking in is around the same time time they switched from the 4-speed to the 6-speed, and the fuel mileage is far better with the 6-speed. Double check the ones you're looking at to confirm they're the 6-speed. They pull better and use less fuel.

Why would you not be a 6.2 fan ?? heard a lot of great things about this engine

Boss has one. I drove it a few times. It's nice but I'm not too much of a 6.2 fan. They have really good power though.

She tows a big wake board boat with hers. She said it tows nice. Don't know what to say other than that.