Allroad has "slammed" itself.

[Solent muppet]

Ayoop, it's that bloke again. As per the title,  my Allroad has decided that I didn't have enough street cred and has helpfully decided I would look SO much cooler driving a (very much!) lowered car. I had noticed that in the past couple of mornings,  she looked a tiny tad lower on the o/s/r but came up just fine after the (mandatory in my view, with 223000 miles)1 minute warmup prior to moving off. She was fine yesterday but today I pulled off the drive and as I hit the second speed bump in the village at about 15mph she felt suddenly quite hard at the front.  So I took things easily until the third speedbumpwhen I realised the suspension was now rock solid. Turned round and parked up. Wow, the front is lower than a 1970s Citroën CX with knackered spheres, but the back end is just slightly down.....so at this age am I looking at a) new front struts, b) a new pump or c) wow how lucky is me, it's just an air supply line popped out. Your thoughts would be most welcome at this juncture, thanks in advance. Ps, she had been sitting for a little over 3 months till the end of April with a non functioning wiper mechanism and a detached bonnet release cable (shudder!) but that's now sorted (shudder again!).

[Steve Q]

Id recommend a diagnostic check to see if any fault codes flag up but I'll bet it's either an issue with a leaking suspension airbag, failed air compressor or air compressor relay. 

[Solent muppet]

Well cheers mate.....I've been umming and ahing about getting a diagnostic tool for this but have no idea which one to get. Bearing in mind the age of the car and its value I'm wondering if it'll be worth buying one. Which model would you suggest and how much might it be.....I'll sit down before you reply.....🤑

[Solent muppet]

I've sort of decided to look into a diagnostic reader for this and possibly other cars of this vintage on the basis that we had intended to hang on to the Allroad for another 2-3 years before trading on to a hybrid of some description as our main transport with something I can use for work as a backup. If anyone has a suggestion for an all round scanner that isn't going to break the bank I would look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thanks. 

[ojk]

Sorry about your troubles. I am going to buy the Ross Tech VCDS HEX-V2. You could see whether anyone is selling second hand on such sites. 

[Solent muppet]

Cheers for the suggestion... is this a complete unit or do I need other peripherals to go with it....looking on Google I see a cable and wondering what I connect to the USB.....

[Steve Q]

It's personal preference. There's also obd11 too. 

[Solent muppet]

Thanks Steve,  just been looking at a couple of videos on those. Have to say, all I want is to read codes to identify problems and reset them when the work is done and reset the service indicator. Not worried about accessing special features  - well maybe set the one touch indicator function from 3 flashes to 5! - but just want the codes and reset functions so as I can identify problems and sort them. Handily, my local garage just up the road has the VCDS bits and when I pointed out the current 5cm!  of ground clearance he said he'd pop down and scan for fault codes.....they've been MoTing and looking after anything I can't do on our cars for 20+ years now so a good relationship there . I'll keep you updated as and when, as I will certainly be asking about parts and general advice ......

[ojk]

Hi SM, sounds like your garage is the way to go but to scare your question, one end of the cable is plugged into the car inside the cabin on right of driver’s footwell, other bit usually goes into a laptop running Windows. Good luck with your next stages. 

[Solent muppet]

Cheers OJ! I guessed as much and fortunately have a laptop running an older version of windows. -the one before 10 I think - and now that I think about it, my bruv (who has the full VCDS setup) has loaded parts of the workshop manual as relates to bodywork on it I think......but he lives 300+ miles away near Newcastle and is currently on the other side of the planet for work.....I guess if it can hold the manual, it could take the software....I have heard it's pricey to obtain but that might just be scuttlebutt, I dunno. Ho hum, onwards and (hopefully) upwards. Thanks again.