ML320 CrAzY Heat

[Q]

Wanted to see if anyone else was experiencing this phenomenon. My wife drives a 2000 model without the automatic climate control.

When the car is cold, but coming up to temp., any temperature selection other than just off of cold comes up as scalding hot. It is as if while the thermostat is closed, the heater is getting super heated water. Once the thermostat has opened a little, the heater operates normally. This is especially annoying of you are running a few close errands, as the heater puts out cold, scalding hot, then warm air. When you stop and get back in, it is scalding hot again and then it goes to warm. Seems I am always having to fiddle with the temperature control.

I did a 4 hour trip in it the other day, and once the engine temp came up, the heat acted just as it should the whole journey. No fluctuation at all. I am sure it was engineered for an automatic system and would be great as heat would be available so soon, but the design is flawed for manual controls.