Hi Everyone,

My W203 is displaying a TeleAid malfunction message - of course, I have no interest in activating it, partially because it's not the digital system so activating it would require the significant expense of upgrading to digital.

I took the car to the dealer and they indicated that to turn off the warning, they would need to physically access the TeleAid box and install a fiber optic bypass junction in the D2B ring, "if this is even possible on my model."

This doesn't seem right to me. Isn't it possible to simply turn the TeleAid function to "Not installed" with the SDS? If so, can someone provide me with the TSB or other technical paper showing this? I have run across this online before, but can't find it now.

The dealer is attempting to charge me a fairly considerable sum of money just to tell me that they can't disable the system.

Additionally, the CD changer stopped working while the car was in their possession. They claim it is not their fault and sent this as support. What does this mean?

The strange thing is that Teleaid is not programmed in, that should be a component on the d2b "ring", and it's not there. So the programming seems to be handled already and yes you will get an error if it is on the ring and not programmed in. "NORMALLY". The other odd thing is it doesn't list it in the actual value screen, like it has been bypassed already too, so pretty confusing, I remember having to set up the ring on a 203 and it should be there. (is in the trunk I believe, towards the front of the car, behind the rear seat backrest if you want to inspect for problems like a disconnected component).
Now on the CD, that should have been set up when it was installed initially, occasionally someone will DIY the installation and the CD changer will work, but often not reliably. Seems like as soon as you start interrogating the system there will be problems. They need to program the d2b ring to show the CD is there, I wouldn't automatically assume the dealer caused the problem. If they were any good at all they would have changed the programming to show the CD changer was there, I woud tend to doubt they changed the programming just to cause you problems. Plus if you don't have a prior printout I guess it would be hard to prove.
Would not be very complex to take the teleaid off the ring, I'm not 100% sure this will eliminate the message, never had to try doing it.
You should be able to clear the message easily enough, but no fun doing that every time the car is driven.
I might have some training materials left for the 203.

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BTW the bypass can be easily done by simply using a fiber optic butt connector where the 2 fiber optic lines connect to teleaid, I think your configuration will then also be correct since teleaid seems to be absent anyways for some odd reason (am thinking the programming on the car has never been correct), although they would have to again change the Component #2 to CD Changer instead of vacant.
The changer IS in the glovebox right??? That's where it belongs anyways, on a sedan.

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Final thought, is I am......."relatively"........ certain teleaid is digital, not analog, I suppose it may have analog as a backup but primarily digital and dual mode.

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Thanks for the reply, helps a lot.

The CD changer worked flawlessly, I used it the morning I dropped the car off. It was installed by that dealer. It wasn't working when I picked the car up, so I feel that they probably messed up the programming - intentionally or not, I feel they have a responsibility to fix it.

It is in the glovebox.

I'm thoroughly upset with the dealer. I'll spare the story but they insist that W203s only have lower control arms! That's enough for me to stay away...

So maybe teleaid has already been taken off the d2B ring, I wonder if there's another place in SDS that it needs to be turned off?

By analog vs digital... I'm referring to the cell communication system. Analog cell was phased out in 07 and so any Mercedes with the older teleaid requires an upgrade to communicate on the digital spectrum. Said upgrade costs like $1200. A class action suit was filed to pay for the upgrade but it's long expired.

I really should buy an SDS. But I don't often touch MBs new enough to warrant it. Maybe someday...

Yeah I'm talking about the cell communication as well. I know by 03 the MB phones (cell phones they marketed for the cars) were digital, I am only assuming at this point but would be pretty sure the phone built in to teleaid would be as well, I sure could be wrong about it.

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OK did my research and see what you are saying, I got out of MB in '03 so didn't know about this.

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The W 203 does not have upper control arms on the front suspension, it has a McPherson struts. It does have this odd double lower arm system with 2 ball joints.

Yes, I understand, however it has two control arms on each side of the car. The dealer insists that the car only has one control arm per side!

Actually you don't understand my prior post, it specifically states that there are two lower arms. " . . . . It does have this odd double lower arm system with 2 ball joints. "

Further, your original quote was " I'll spare the story but they insist that W203s ____only have lower control arms!____"

That's vastly different then your current quote.

Also, define whom you spoke to at the dealer, if it is the service writer, they are not going to know every minute detail of the car. Few cars in the wild have this odd double lower arm system ( I think Honda was one that used it as well. )

The parts catalog still calls one the "upper control arm." I understand that it's not a typical design, but one of the arms has a ball joint pointing upward, and one pointing downward. One can argue semantics but there are two control arms on each side of the car, one pointing up, the other pointing down. The dealer tried to tell me that my car only had one control arm per side.

This isn't really relevant to the topic of the thread so I don't want to drag it off track (no pun intended :-) )

I've spoken to the service writer and the service manager about the situation.

MB does not condone disabling teleaid (if it doesn't work i don't know why not, unless they relaly think people will upgrade?) but the guy i talked to says they have done it before in the manner I mentioned

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