Wildly fluctuating oil temps

[Andrew Duane]

Recently, my 2000 A6Q2.8 has started showing a deeply troubling symptom.
Sometimes, the oil temp will be rock steady at just shy of 225 degrees.
Sometimes, though, it will start fluctuating up and down pretty quickly.
The swing can be as little as 10-20 degrees, or as much as 50-75 degrees!
Needless to say, watching the oil temp go from 225 to 300 in 15 seconds,
wiggle a bit, then drop back down to 225 is unsettling.

When it climbs, it does so at about the same rate as it climbs when getting
up to temperature, so I do think it is actually getting that hot. The oil
in place is a fresh fill of Castrol GTX, some 5W30 and some 5W40 (both
approved weights).

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Andrew Duane            Member Technical Staff - SPG
SavaJe Technologies     andrew at savaje.com
100 Apollo Drive        p: 978.856.4943
Chelmsford, MA 01824    f: 978.256.8386