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covetsthesun's avatar
covetsthesun
Explorer
Oct 25, 2016

2011 Tahoe questions

I'm looking at a 2011 Tahoe Flex Fuel, 4wd LT. It has 87k miles, no dents, dings, scratches. Sunroof and a ton of extras. It belongs to a local who bought it at auction recently. No service records, but I'm waiting on a CarFax and if I get serious it will get a thorough mechanical checkup.

I have a few concerns and would like advice.

First... and this might mean nothing, but it might. The Tahoe has LTZ badges on the vehicle, but nowhere on the original window sticker does it say LTZ. ONLY LT. I checked the VIN on the vehicle against the orig window sticker and it's correct. Every window sticker I've ever looked at matched the vehicle badge. Is this a red flag?

Next, we've looked online at quite a few Tahoe's, Yukons etc with comparable miles,age and toys and the dealer prices have been much higher than this one. The owner is asking $27k.

We've driven it and it drives/rides well. Still...just don't have an easy feeling yet.

Your thoughts folks?

cts
Tow Vehicles
  • APT's avatar
    APT
    Explorer
    Oct 25, 2016
    I have the brochure from 2011. LTZ includes standard cooled seats which are not available on the LT. Badges are easy to change - cooled seats not so much. That price seems a little high.

    Are you planning to tow a TT with this potential Tahoe? Focus on the payload. Get the 3.42 axle and HD trans cooler. Also, the Yukon Denali offers a lot more power.
  • Bionic_Man's avatar
    Bionic_Man
    Explorer
    Oct 25, 2016
    The biggest downfall of that vintage seems to be problems with the active fuel management (cylinder deactivation) which can lead to BIG problems with the engine. Not sure how to check that out, but with the 5.3 you should look into it.

    As far as pricing, I would concur that seems high. I bought a 2011 Yukon Denali XL earlier this year. 55,000 miles, and I didn't pay a lot more than you are posting.
  • donn0128's avatar
    donn0128
    Explorer II
    Oct 25, 2016
    Check carfax closely. Its possibly a salvage title thats been scrubbed.
  • covetsthesun's avatar
    covetsthesun
    Explorer
    Oct 26, 2016
    Thanks. Edumunds shows 8 way power heated front seats as standard. No mention of cooled. But. The original sticker for this Tahoe clearly shows 6way. From the sticker, it appears that the dealer upgraded a ton of stuff...and badged it as LTZ. It's these little things that give me heartburn.

    I'm going to do some more checking... thanks all and please feel free to chime in with any thoughts or advice!

    cts
  • covetsthesun's avatar
    covetsthesun
    Explorer
    Oct 26, 2016
    Bionic Man wrote:
    The biggest downfall of that vintage seems to be problems with the active fuel management (cylinder deactivation) which can lead to BIG problems with the engine. Not sure how to check that out, but with the 5.3 you should look into it.

    As far as pricing, I would concur that seems high. I bought a 2011 Yukon Denali XL earlier this year. 55,000 miles, and I didn't pay a lot more than you are posting.


    Not quite sure what "active fuel management" means. This is a Flex Fuel vehicle is this what you are referring to?
    cts
  • mkirsch's avatar
    mkirsch
    Nomad II
    Oct 26, 2016
    No, it's the part where the engine shuts off 4 cylinders during periods of low load, such as cruising on a flat highway.
  • covetsthesun's avatar
    covetsthesun
    Explorer
    Oct 26, 2016
    Ahhh. You might want those 4 cylinders back when you are in hill country.

    We have been looking at both Cadillac DTS (DH's preference) and Tahoe/Yukon (my preference!) This one just appeared at a local street dealer's lot all nice and shiny and caught our eye. We don't usually see a higher end vehicle on the street lots, so we stopped for a look.
  • Campfire_Time's avatar
    Campfire_Time
    Explorer
    Oct 26, 2016
    Bionic Man wrote:
    The biggest downfall of that vintage seems to be problems with the active fuel management (cylinder deactivation) which can lead to BIG problems with the engine. Not sure how to check that out, but with the 5.3 you should look into it.


    Mostly correct. The issue was specific to 2007-2009 5.3 engines. It was fixed in the 2010 5.3s. The gist of it is that the 4 cylinders that would get shutdown have a different kind of lifter. In some cases a lifter would collapse throwing a miss code. The fix was a new set of lifters that don't have the issue. Burning oil is a symptom but not necessarily an indicator that a lifter will fail. There is a TSB on the issue. That was the old GM. It should have been a recall.

    Having a 2008 5.3 myself I've done a lot of research on this and the problem actually only affects a small percentage 5.3l engines.

    covetsthesun wrote:
    Ahhh. You might want those 4 cylinders back when you are in hill country.


    Actually Active Fuel Management only kicks in when cruising on a flat hwy. In the wind, on hills, accelerating, towing, it'll be in V8 mode. The DIC (driver information center) has a readout showing real time MPG and V8 vs V4 mode.
  • covetsthesun's avatar
    covetsthesun
    Explorer
    Oct 26, 2016
    Thank you everyone. We've determined that the vehicle is indeed an LT, not LTZ. Saw a CarFax that was pulled yesterday and it appears clean and clear. There's a few more things we'd like to check, but thank you all for the advice!

    cts

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