Over the weekend a friend and I overhauled the front end suspension on my 79 W123 300TD wagon. We replaced the upper control arms, tie rods, center link, guide rod mount, shocks and springs and all the related bushings. After finishing, the front end ride height was considerably higher. After researching on the forums I thought that the problem could be that we tightened everything up while the car was still in the air, so I loosened the upper and lower control arms while the car was on the ground to see if it would settle a bit and lower, but no luck. I eventually took the wagon to my Mercedes diesel mechanic and he thought we installed the wrong springs. The new springs are genuine Mercedes springs with the part number 1233212704. Here's the important part, I think. The new springs had red and blue markings and I now realize that the original springs which I removed have red and green markings. Does anyone know the part number for the red and green marked springs?

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Be aware that it can take some time for everything to settle after doing front suspension work. Expect the front end to settle 1" if not more over the next 2 weeks or so. This applies even if reusing the same springs.

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Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

Thanks, good to know. I feel like it might have already gone down a very tiny bit but it's still very high. Do you think it's an issue that the old and new springs have different color markings? I'm assuming it must mean something.

I don't know what the color markings translate to. I'm sure one of the forum Oracles will come along and decode the paint markings at some point.

__________________
Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

Also, I'm wondering how much a front end alignment would help. I can't imagine it would lower the front end by a few inches though.

I had the opposite problem when I did my front springs. I ordered the springs from the dealer, installed them and had a considerably lower ride height. Turns out I ordered the springs for a car without a sunroof. I'm not sure what the reasoning was, but for whatever reason MB decided that the no sunroof would be the combination for having lighter springs as well.

Looking through the Factory Service Manual I can see that on 3.25-010/2 that both 123 321 36 04 and 123 321 27 04 are available for Touring (123.190). 123 321 36 04 is for "vehicles with additional special equipment."

On another page (32.5-220/5) I see "adjustment of front springs" but for 123.190 it only has 123 321 36 04 for a front spring.

For the height of the spring rubber mounts I'll duplicate the chart as best I can here.

The special equipment listed is : sliding roof, power steering, automatic transmission, extra heater. Each is a point (sliding roof + power steering is = 2)

For Special Equipment 2:
-Blue coded spring 13 mm
-Red coded spring 18mm

For Special Equipment 3
-Blue coded spring 13 mm
-Red coded spring 18 mm

For Special Equipment 4:
-Blue coded spring 18 mm
-Red coded spring 23 mm


Let me know if you have any of the above listed features. I'm guessing that you either need the other spring available or you need a different height spacer.

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I recondition w123/w126/w124/w140/r107/r129/ steering boxes!


1984 300D "Elsa" odo reset 6/2011 147k
1983 300TD "Mitzi" ~268k OM603 powered
1995 E300 "Adelheid" 262k [Sold]

When I was doing suspension work on my front end I noticed both my front springs were marked blue and green

1) Did you verify that the new springs actually are stamped with the part number? If you did, you know where to find the P/N of the old springs. It is stamped on the inside diameter of the full coil end (not the ground-flat end).
2) A spring will bear either a blue, OR, a red code, not both. The blue and red codes determine the thickness of the rubber pad. The springs with red & green markings are red code springs.

From what I understand, the markings in the center of the spring (usually 3-4 dots) were for inspection, and can be ignored.
As others have mentioned, the large red or blue dots at the bottom of the spring are important. The red is 5mm shorter than the blue.

Actually, just about the opposite; in post #1 the pictures show adjacent red & green markings on the same coil, and they are towards the top of the spring (closed coils, flat ground). It is a red code spring. In post #7 the picture also shows a spring with adjacent red & green markings on the same coil. It is also a red code spring; the blue paint on the lower coil is not part of the length coding.

Unfortunately, I did not check the part number on the actual spring. I didn't realize it was stamped on there, although I should've assumed that. I did check the stickers that I removed from the springs and they did have the correct number on the stickers. I was able to find the part number on my old springs though, and although it was hard to read, it is indeed 1233212704. Which is the same number on the new springs I bought. So, I guess I bought the correct springs after all??? I'm confused. The old and new springs looked to be the same size before I installed them and they both share the same part number. Obviously, the new springs should be much stiffer than my old 40 year old springs but I can't imagine they are so much stiffer that they make my car's front end almost 3 inches higher. One difference to note: The old springs have a red markings on the bottom and the new springs have blue markings on the bottom, which obviously denotes using different sized shims. Is it possible that I can have old and new springs with the same part number but use different size shims? Also, if that is the case, the old springs (red markings) use 13mm shims and the shims for the new springs (blue markings) should use the thinner 8mm shims. That being said, I can't imagine that a difference of 5mm in the shims would make my car sit almost 3 inches higher.

I’ll have to disagree with you on this one. Post 11 on this thread indicates the bottom coil large marking is the important one. Straight from the FSM:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/284679-paint-markings-springs.html

Accepted!

The real question remains though... is the 5mm in difference between the 13mm and 8mm shims going to make that big of a difference? Or should I just put my old spring back in to get back to respectable front end ride height?

5mm is roughly 1/4". That difference will translate to roughly 3/8-1/2" difference in total ride height. If your springs are making the front end stick up 2-3" like you say, put the old springs back in. There's more wrong than just the spring rate.

__________________
Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)