4kq: Wierd oil temp behavior/ *classic* audi humorousness!

[Robert M]

   My 4kq has always been really boring, temperature wise, in the 4 years 
I've been driving it.   Unless I'm idling in traffic the water temp gauge is 
in the lower third, and the oil temp gauge (the LED one to the right of the 
difflock control) is somewhere around the middle of the scale.

  Then, one day a couple weeks ago I noticed the oil temperature was a lot 
higher than normal, about 3/4 of the way to the top.   That was a hot day, 
and as it seemed to be a one-time thing I put it out of my mind.  Until 
Sunday, that is.

   About 45 minutes in to a 3 hour drive I noticed that the oil temp was 
high again.  Worse yet, in the next 5 minutes or so it continued to climb, 
to a point one LED short of the Red Zone.   Despite the fact that the day 
was cool and my water temps were low I pulled off the higway to investigate. 
  Coolant bottle full?  Check.   Coolant bottle and radiator hot?  Check.   
Oil on the dipstick?  Check.   Any feeling of unusual heat in the engine 
department?  Negative.  Oil smell burned?  Negative.   Hmmmm.  I got back on 
the highway, relieved to see that the oil temp had dropped back to what I'd 
consider normal.  In 2 minutes.   Weird!

   Driving on for another mile or so the temp began to go back up.  It hit 
the red led, and then the display went blank.  Surprised, dismayed, and not 
a little freaked out, I reached out and tapped the LED panel like one would 
a mechanical gauge that was acting up.  *Much* to my surprise, the gauge not 
only came back to life but upon reillumination the lit LED went from the top 
slot back down to the normal zone, cycling through every LED in between.  
Again, *just* like a sticking mechanical gauge.

  It was just like the Reactor Coolant Level gauge in "The China Syndrome".

  The Audi gods have a twisted sense of humor, but at least they left me 
alone for the rest of my drive ;)