I attempted to replace my rear valve block today with a non-OEM part, but I cannot get the air lines to press into the voss fittings for the life of me. They entire the threaded end no problem, but won’t push into the retaining nut/fitting at all. The ends of the lines are a little rough, but I can’t see a reason why they wouldn’t slide in like in every video I’ve seen. Has anyone else run into this problem?

 

You are not trying to slide them in with the VOSS fitting installed on the block, right? VOSS fitting is not a push-connect fitting. And as a side note, ends should be smooth not rough. Rough ends can damage the o-rings inside the fitting causing a leak.

 

👁👄👁

Wait really? I scoured the web for videos of installing a fresh valve block but all I could find was the installation of a new strut -- which is push fit, so I assumed the other air fittings on the car were the same. What's the procedure? Do you remove the threaded bit, then the retainer, slide the threaded bit onto the line, then squeeze the retainer on and screw it all in?

 

VOSS is not push connect. That is why its called a VOSS fitting. Unscrew the entire fitting. Put the line through it. Then put the compression ring onto the line, this is usually a small brass part that will wedge, when tightened, onto the air line and sort up and into the fitting a little. Insert all that into the valve block and thread into place. Dont crank too hard, you can strip the plastic on the valve block.

Another side note, the front and rear valve blocks are not interchangeable. So always make sure you buy and install the correct one. And yes, they looks pretty much identical.

 

The workshop manual says they are press to fit:
Installation

1.Install new Voss connectors to the rear valve block.
Tighten to 2.5 Nm (1.7 lb.ft).

2. Install the rear valve block.
Connect the electrical connector.
Connect the air lines into the Voss connector.


All the other instructions re: the the valve blocks I've seen also mention that you shouldn't remove the VOSS fittings at all due to the very low torque setting and the fact that attempting to reinstall them can strip the threads

 

Then do it that way, I dont care. Good luck.

 

Worth mentioning I did try it your way, and it didn't work and now all the connectors are broken ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Then you did something stupidly wrong. People work on the valve blocks all the time without issue. Put down the tools, find a mechanic.

 

I'm just gonna go ahead and blame "a non-OEM part".
Who knows what connectors they use - or their overall quality (or lack of, I am guessing).
or . . . Maybe you already damaged them by forcing the pipes (poor quality?) in your first attempt before asking for help here.

For the record: I have always simply unthreaded the brass connector from the block, left them on the pipe, and re-threaded when done.
Done the front 2x and rear 1x that way - never pushed a pipe into a connector (at the valve blocks).
Dryer cap was true push-fit, bare pipe into the fitting.

If you still have your original rear block, open/clean (replace o-rings of needed, mine have only needed cleaning), and re-install it.
Unless it is absolutely un-usable. Then buy a new or used OEM and try again.

Or pay someone else.

 

Despite what Mr. Butthurt would have you think I'm actually *not* an idiot (obviously take that with a grain of salt). I have rebuilt the center valve block, the entire compressor dryer/exhaust valve assembly, and the front valve block without issue thus far.
I have completed a lot of repairs following the stupid-easy to follow workshop manual, so when I ran into trouble for the first time, I assumed I was doing something wrong.
I doubt I damaged the connectors, since I wasn't trying to force the lines in, as every video I've seen showed them sliding in quite easily and I backed off immediately when it wasn't going well. (and all asking me for help did was get me into trouble with a extremely overconfident reply that directly contradicted the manual).

But hey! This is all free advice even if some of it is confidently stated by people who are plainly wrong (I'm not like, mad or anything that it was bad advice, its just hilarious to me when people are so confidently wrong and then mad when you're like "idk are you sure?"), and I had already removed the old connectors, and I needed to, you know, drive my car so I figured why the hell not give it a shot since I was already planning on replacing the non-OEM block with an OEM block and I already didn't have a working rear block. Needless to say this did not work, and the seal is no good, so air is leaking from pretty much all of the connectors very slowly, so they would have to be replaced regardless. This is likely due to non-OEM parts being, in general, crap. (I have also tried to re-use the old block for fun. No dice).

Issues I could see with this technique:
1) how do you know where to place the retaining nut? The air line has to go far enough into the block past the retaining nut so that there is a good seal, but what is that depth?
2) improperly torquing the connector back into the plastic block
3) stripping the threads when reinstalling the connector. These air lines aren't exactly easy to access and in order to get the spanner in there you need to do all kinds of gymnastics.
Pressing in the air line (as designed, from what I can tell?) solves all these problems.

I first rebuilt the rear block, and when that failed I did in fact replace it with a non-OEM part, there's always an off chance it's a strut and not the valve, so I thought I'd start there (as a $45 dollar fix/diagnosis is substantially cheaper than $200 for an OEM block or $775 for two struts).

So again, back to my original question: Has anyone else had a problem pressing their existing air lines into a valve block, any valve block (or reservoir, or strut)?