MX5 battery

[kazman]

ukianj said:

My Westco has just failed me for the first time in 3 years, the cold I expect. I shan't be replacing it though - never seemed to hold a charge for more than a couple of weeks. Best battery I had was one of the black sealed ones from Halfords. Lasted me 6 years, admittedly the car was driven almost every day, but nonetheless. It was too tall for the MX5 battery clamp though so I had to fashion my own to hold it in place. I'll be going back for another though if the Westco doesn't take a charge.

Without wanting to tempt fate, i have a halfords one and have left the car for 6 weeks without issue. Of course i fully expect it to not start when i leave work now....

[skinny]

kazman said:

ukianj said:

My Westco has just failed me for the first time in 3 years, the cold I expect. I shan't be replacing it though - never seemed to hold a charge for more than a couple of weeks. Best battery I had was one of the black sealed ones from Halfords. Lasted me 6 years, admittedly the car was driven almost every day, but nonetheless. It was too tall for the MX5 battery clamp though so I had to fashion my own to hold it in place. I'll be going back for another though if the Westco doesn't take a charge.

Without wanting to tempt fate, i have a halfords one and have left the car for 6 weeks without issue. Of course i fully expect it to not start when i leave work now....

i have a halfords one - it's a higher duty made for a larger car. i can leave it months and it starts on the button.

[pewe]

Lazza, silly question but are you 100% certain it's sealed?
My similar Varta (is/was a sister company to Bosch) one looked as if it was sealed but vents through two holes at the top facing sideways. These are very similar to the raised parts on yours, one adjacent to the outer yellow triangle.
Wasn't until I blew down one I realised it was vented.
If you need tubing and plastic bends the acquatic centre behind Dobbies garden centre in Hyde End nr. Shinfield sells them at next to nothing prices - go for the clear tubing not the rubberised one which costs silly money.
HTH.
Cheers, Pewe.

[MX-5 Lazza]

I know exactly what you mean Pete but no, those bits that look like they should be vents on the sides are blanked off. There are no holes into the battery at all. They are sold as "sealed for life" so would need to be vent free. Not sure how that works with the gasses involved in batteries but I'm sure there will be some clever person with a chemistry degree along soon to explain...

[xoot]

Hi All

My wife has a 2002 1.8 Arizona and, due to a new baby, we haven't used her car or been able to start it for a couple of months. I know this is not ideal but with a new baby it was low on the list of priorities.

The battery we have is the original Panasonic. Halfords tried to test it but there was only 5V so their machine didn't work. I've jump started it, driven for 25 miles/40 minutes twice and each time I couldn't even lock the doors there was so little charge in the battery.

I'm fairly sure the alternator is OK as I am getting 14V across the terminals when the engine is running and I don't think there is a drain as it was fine when being run regularly.

I have seen somewhere, another forum I think, that these gel batteries sometimes don't charge from driving but can come back if trickle charged for a couple of days. Has anyone got any experience of that and if so any tips/suggestions for charging a gel battery?

I don't just want to fork out for a new battery as they are £175 from Mazda and I don't want to put in a cheap lead acid or a Westco based on reviews/posts in this thread.

Any advice would be gratefully received. We'll be selling it soon so hopefully a cheap solution can be recommended.

Thanks in advance.

[HereBeMonsters]

xoot said:

Hi All

My wife has a 2002 1.8 Arizona and, due to a new baby, we haven't used her car or been able to start it for a couple of months. I know this is not ideal but with a new baby it was low on the list of priorities.

The battery we have is the original Panasonic. Halfords tried to test it but there was only 5V so their machine didn't work. I've jump started it, driven for 25 miles/40 minutes twice and each time I couldn't even lock the doors there was so little charge in the battery.

I'm fairly sure the alternator is OK as I am getting 14V across the terminals when the engine is running and I don't think there is a drain as it was fine when being run regularly.

I have seen somewhere, another forum I think, that these gel batteries sometimes don't charge from driving but can come back if trickle charged for a couple of days. Has anyone got any experience of that and if so any tips/suggestions for charging a gel battery?

I don't just want to fork out for a new battery as they are £175 from Mazda and I don't want to put in a cheap lead acid or a Westco based on reviews/posts in this thread.

Any advice would be gratefully received. We'll be selling it soon so hopefully a cheap solution can be recommended.

Thanks in advance.

Have you got a gel battery charger? Needs to be a specific gel one in my experience. Mine was £40 from Halfords.

[xoot]

HereBeMonsters said:

Have you got a gel battery charger? Needs to be a specific gel one in my experience. Mine was £40 from Halfords.

No but I think I can borrow one.

I really want to know whether it is worth the hassle of waiting for a few days whilst it charges compared to forking out for a new battery today.

I need to get the car ready to sell as we can't really fit thre of us, a pram etc in there but I don't want to spend almost £200 on a new battery.

Thanks for your reply BTW, much appreciated.

[HereBeMonsters]

I don't think anyone can give you a definitive yes/no answer.

You may get lucky and it will charge well on a trickle and sort itself out, or it may not. If the battery's more than 5 years old, I'd just pay up for a new one. You may not make that money back, but what if you're trying to sell it and it doesn't start? The buyer will just walk.

[eltax91]

xoot said:

I don't just want to fork out for a new battery as they are £175 from Mazda and I don't want to put in a cheap lead acid or a Westco based on reviews/posts in this thread.

Any advice would be gratefully received. We'll be selling it soon so hopefully a cheap solution can be recommended.

Thanks in advance.

If you are selling it soon, why care about a cheapo battery? Once it's gone, you care not if the battery only last 12 months or so

[xoot]

HereBeMonsters said:

I don't think anyone can give you a definitive yes/no answer.

You may get lucky and it will charge well on a trickle and sort itself out, or it may not. If the battery's more than 5 years old, I'd just pay up for a new one. You may not make that money back, but what if you're trying to sell it and it doesn't start? The buyer will just walk.

That's fair enough, I wasn't really expecting a definitive answer but no-one has said it definitely won't work which is what I was after.

eltax91 said:

If you are selling it soon, why care about a cheapo battery? Once it's gone, you care not if the battery only last 12 months or so

I see your point but I don't like putting a substandard part in a car even if I am selling it. The photo earlier in the thread of the damage caused by a leaking lead acid battery is enough to convince me to do it right.

Thanks to all who answered, I appreciate you all taking the time to advise a newcomer.

I think I know I am going to have to buy a new battery but I'll update this thread anyway when I have tried charging it.

[Beati Dogu]

MX-5 Lazza said:

Not gel but are maintenance free sealed batteries. I was going to hook up the vents but the battery doesn't have any vents!

It does have a slightly bigger footprint than the Panasonic/Westco so the battery ray has to go. I'm on the lookout for a replacement tray. I managed to fit mine using the stock mounting bracket (with a slight modification) too.

That looks good. What did you have to modify to get it to fit? Was it the metal bracket itself, or the plastic handle of the battery?

[MX-5 Lazza]

Just a small cut-out on the bracket.
It's a sealed lead-acid battery so can't leak. I don't see why its considered to be any worse than a gel battery, especially as mine had peeled paint and a touch of rust in the battery well after 12 years with gel batteries.

[Beati Dogu]

Thanks for that. I've bought a Bosch S4 battery from Europarts (who have a 20% discount online this month by the way).

The original Panasonic battery has lasted 11 years, but now wont take a charge & is only giving out 6 volts.

[furtive]

Tried to start my car yesterday after it standing for a week and a half due to me going on holiday and it just clicked. It's got a Westco battery from MX5Parts that's only just over a year old. Assume I can just get an Optimate and trickle charge it back to life?

The car only does short journeys mainly which I guess is the problem. It's slowly been getting drained over time.

I suppose the solution to this is to stick it on an Optimate every so often to give it a boost? If I do that do I need to disconnect the battery from the car or can I leave it connected?

[MX-5 Lazza]

Optimate comes with connectors that you can leave attached to the car which have a simple 2-pin connector on the other end that you can use to connect to the Optimate. I have my Optimate attached to the garage wall and the car is plugged in all the time it's parked up.

I knew my old Westco was well & truly dead when I went on a PH hoon, stopped for fuel half way and the battery was dead when I tried to restart. Luckily there was a hill running down from the garage so I didn't have to go through the embarrassment of asking for a push.

[furtive]

Went to my local motorbike place and have bought an Oxford Oximiser 900 which is an Optimate copy. Have connected it up and it's charging now.

[Wilburo]

Following up from my query in this thread, I now have the Bosch S5 too. Like Lazza said, it won't fit with the battery tray, so mine has had to go. Do you need to have something seperating the battery from floor of the boot? The battery is surrounded by metal lips, so isn't going anywhere.

[Mazdamender]

Never ever waste your hard earned on a westco Battery no matter what crap you read on the interweb , the wet cell batteries are a big no no in a Mx/roadster boot as they WILL bring on extra problems, the best battery you can get and use is the OE panisonic mazda gel unit, which you will get 10 years plus out of, so money well spent if the roadster is a keeper.
M-m

[J-Tuner]

Mazdamender said:

Never ever waste your hard earned on a westco Battery no matter what crap you read on the interweb , the wet cell batteries are a big no no in a Mx/roadster boot as they WILL bring on extra problems, the best battery you can get and use is the OE panisonic mazda gel unit, which you will get 10 years plus out of, so money well spent if the roadster is a keeper.
M-m

What sort of issues do westco's produce other than being generally ste?

I just replaced my westco of only 3 years with a sealed bosch battery. People have said previously the panasonic was pricey and the spec was less of the westco so not really worth it?

Have heard horror stories of cheaper open batteries leaking and rotting holes in the boot floor etc. I cant see that being a risk with a fully sealed unit?

[MX-5 Lazza]

The Panasonic is a lower spec than the Westco but as Mm says, they do tend to last a long time so are worth the cash if you intend to keep the car a long time. However, they are expensive and as you say, I can't see how a sealed wet cell battery can cause any sort of corrosion issues.