2012 diesel: ride suddenly got hard

[peter-h]

I think my Scirocco has something wrong with the suspension. The ride is suddenly a lot harder than I remember it; had it since new. There is a setting for soft/medium/hard and I always have it on soft, but changing it now makes no apparent difference. I googled it:

The 3-position suspension stiffness (Comfort, Normal, and Sport) on the 2012 VW Scirocco is implemented via Volkswagen's Adaptive Chassis Control (DCC) system. Rather than swapping physical springs, the system continuously regulates the flow of damper fluid using electronically controlled electromagnetic valves integrated into each of the four shock absorbers.

If you are experiencing issues with a particular mode being overly stiff or unresponsive, it often points to a failing suspension level sensor or an electrical fault in the damper valve, which can be diagnosed by checking the CAN-bus and suspension modules using a compatible OBD scanner (such as Ross-Tech VCDS).

I have VAG-COM running on an old laptop and this can be used to change various settings but I don't know if it can do this.

It sounds like there is a solenoid valve in each shock, but the chance of all four (or even two) failing at the same time must be nil. So I wonder if a wire has come off somewhere which controls the whole system.

The other curious thing I've noticed is that sometimes the car behaves directionally like there was a strong crosswind, but this is when there is no wind. Could this be a clue?

Apart from the above, it generally drives fine.

I appreciate any ideas. It's a great car to drive and I want to keep it.

[1.4_tsi]

If you have VCDS, it's definitely worth doing a full auto-scan of all systems, to see whether any fault codes have been logged. I think ther would certainly be faults logged if there was an electrical fault in the DCC system.

Imprecise directional control suggests you may have a seriously worn suspension bush, could be front or rear. I'd definitely get that checked out as well

[peter-h]

Well, I had one dud (CANBUS-controlled?) shock (replaced all four anyway; £350 each roughly), 1 broken spring, and 1 nearly broken spring

£2000 total and that is a guy who charges less than half for labour of the local (non VW dealer) garage.

I am happy because after 14 years this car owes me nothing. Best car I ever had.

[1.4_tsi]

Glad it's fixed. As you say, you can't complain after 14 years. Think you much you'd have spent if you'd traded your car in for a nee one every 3 years

[peter-h]

The funny thing is, there were no error codes. One of the shocks lost most of its fluid, but there is no way for the electronics to detect that.