Manwich

arrtewwx

MurrayA4

Yes absolutely go to the dealer.Removing the rear hatch inner cover isn't rocket science but there's a lot of potential for breaking stuff so let Audi deal with it.

Redd

"This is a 2016 SQ5 CPO still under warranty "
Yup. 100% let the dealer handle it. resealing lights can mean playing "whack a mole". New light assemblies can be rent money. And, if there's water in the lamp assembly, the wiring subharness can be rotting out from it--a REALLY proper repair would also involve checking for that.
VWG had a really bizarre issue with "fluid" in some tail lights maybe five years ago It turned out that COOLANT was leaking past a temperature sensor, on the engine, and then flowing downhill inside a primary wiring harness until it pooled up IN THE TAIL LIGHTS.
Bizarre, but true. So, might as well get the problem documented and dealt with under warranty.

Bob Petruska

If you do it yourself...…………

Manwich

MurrayA4

Manwich "Audi may not do anything about and would claim it was normal." that's more likely to come from a dealer and if it does, move on.This is NOT normal.Left rear tailight will eventually fail due to moisture infiltration.That is a safety issue.Audi must address it.

Redd

Manwich-
Some dealers may not want to bother with warranty jobs because (rashly assuming Audi is like everyone else) the factory often pays less than book price for warranty work. So a busy dealer might rather pass on it. But, any dealer with basic business skills (that lets out many of them) will be eager to submit a warranty job. It makes customers happy and keep the shop busy, and should up their profits. If your local dealer is an Audi Magna Society (?) member, that's an aware AoA gives out to the dealerships that have gotten the fewest complaints, or most praise (G), from customers. Usually means a shop that is better at getting anything "questionable" done by warranty.

Last week I took someone's non-Audi in to their dealer for an oil change. Couldn't figure out why it was taking so long. It turns out, the service advisor apologized, their standard service check includes a battery load test (!) and they had replaced the three year old battery, under warranty, without even being asked. Sounds like their shop has found a way to make money on "warranty work" but...hard to argue with a free new battery from the battery fairy.(G)

No $200 battery re-programming charge or diagnostics needed, either.

Sometimes, the dealers go the extra mile. They know it means more long-term business.

Manwich

ScottG

I have the same issue in my 2015 Q5... with both original tail lights and it was under CPO warranty. However, Stevens Creek Audi service said point blank that policy is that it is not under warranty. They gave me this reply without doing any diagnostic - as is required in the CPO determination as it was not due to wear and tear - it was a manu defect. After I sent in a complaint to Audi USA, they tooks weeks to talk to the dealer. The dealer actually said weeks after replacing my lights that they did a diagnostics and determined that it is normal to have condensation in Audi Q5 taillights. Curious how come they did not do the diagnostics prior to replacing lights to let me know it is normal and not to replace. And even more curious that they say weeks later that they weeks later were able to do a diagnostic and determine somehow that condensation is normal. I would check more than one dealer to make sure that you are getting an honest assessment prior to CPO work and that the dealer will actually honor CPO warranties as they should = Stevens Creek Audi in San Jose CA did not.