my felicia is oozing what i believe to be wax oil from the two holes at the base of my hatchback. the holes are oval shaped and about 10mm across, there's one to either side of the hatchback about 10/15cm (? that's a guess) in from the edge.

the result of this is loads of oily yellow crud seeping down over my bumper on both sides. gross!

it's been like this since i bought her but with the recent hot weather it's gotten so bad that it looks like seagulls bear me a serious grudge, and every time i clean it off it's back and worse.

my questions are:

is it safe to block the two holes in the hatchback?

what would be your recommended method of blocking the holes to stop seepage?

thanks so much for any suggestions!

When did you put the wax oil in or was it put in before hand?

I did the same to a fiesta and the idea is to cover the surface, which in the sills etc means pretty much flooding the stuff into the chambers. In my opinion you are best off leaving the holes open and allowing the excess to come out. The stuff will stop running out soon anough, and after a while will harden properly.

The waxoil is solvent in white spirit should you ever find it impossible to get off with more traditional methods.

If I understand where you holes are they sound a bit like vent holes to allow the pressure to escape when closing the boot etc, so if you are going to block them off i suggest using some cloth that will only slow the flow rather than block the hole, and will still allow the air out. As i said above though, personally I wouldn't block it.

thank you for the info.

the wax oil was put in by the previous owner. i was thinking that it would have to stop oozing soon but it's been about 14 months since i bought the car and it's worse than ever at the moment.

i might try some cotton wool that would allow air flow and slow the oozing. thanks for the tip off about the solvent - that will be really useful.

yours gooily,

lottie

My brother car ozzed both summers for the year I did it (a summer) and the next summer too. All stopped after that. If the other chap had done the waxoil in winter it will probably ooze a lot for it's first summer.

Be careful about the white spirit as it might discolour or damage the bumper plastics so I would only use it was a last resort and have something to wipe it off with asap.

They are drain holes for allowing water to escape, do not block them off or you may get corrosion problems later on. I suspect that the factory got a bit enthusiastic about the application of the cavity wax as we still get the later Felicias (X registration) in that exhibit this, that I know have never had any after market stuff applied. I suppose that the only real cure is to remove the interior trim and remove the excess wax.

Hence me saying if you do block it, just do it with something porous which would slow the waxoil down as it is very viscous, but still let the air etc out through it.

As I said up there, I wouldn't block it either, I'd just let the stuff come out, it will stop when it's ready. Just that the previous owner was a bit excessive with the waxoil.