Best battery (and supplier) for 1996 MX5 MK1 1.8

[Bomberharris]

My local garage is struggling to find a replacement battery for my MK1

I can find a Westco of eBay for £107 is this the best there is and is that how much I should expect to pay?

Thank you in advance

BH

[Sad Weevil]

I recently bought an oem Panasonic from mx5parts for £99. They also do the similar Westco for the same price.

[Bomberharris]

Thank you I think that really is it - has to be Gel and either Westco or Panny

[J-Tuner]

Doesn't have to be gel. In fact I thought my Westco was garbage. Didn't last long at all.

I have a bosch s5 sealed battery and it has been excellent for mine which isn't used from month to month and has survived repeated battery charges / reconditioning cycles after prolonged storage over winter . A few others here use the same one also and rate it.

[pete]

Yep, same experience here, no need to use a gel battery. I have a conventional Halfords sealed battery in my mk1. I just made sure to connect the vent pipes correctly so any nasty corrosive vapour gets piped out of the boot and doesn't make everything rusty. It's been fine for 4 years, no signs of rust.

[MX-5 Lazza]

Avoid Westco at all costs! I'm a Bosch S5 063 user too.

[J-Tuner]

Yeah mines a 063 - got mine under your recommendation. Its a beefy thing CCA wise!

[anonymous-user]

I bought a WestCo gel battery expecting it to last well, unfortunately it only lasted a couple of years.

[VladD]

I find the Westco OK. I had a problem with the first because I let it fully discharge. I tried several times to rejuvenate it, but with no luck. So I bought a second one and have had no problems at all, though the car has had more regular use than when the first one was fitted. About a year ago I randomly decided to try and revive the first one again, and bingo, back it came.

[MX-5 Lazza]

They seem to ok for a while and do last longer on cars with constant use but they just don't last long. I've had a few and none lasted much over 3 years. My Bosch S5 has a 5 year warranty and the Panasonic usually lasts over 15 years.

[Bomberharris]

Thank you I'm going with the Bosch S5 063 from Eurocarparts

[brrapp]

Maybe I'm being a bit thick here, but any reason I couldn't move the battery tray to the middle of the boot and fit a standard sized battery? I imagine there are quite a few MX5 owners who like me never use the boot anyway. You could get the right spec battery for half the price of a standard one.

[battered]

brrapp said:

Maybe I'm being a bit thick here, but any reason I couldn't move the battery tray to the middle of the boot and fit a standard sized battery? I imagine there are quite a few MX5 owners who like me never use the boot anyway. You could get the right spec battery for half the price of a standard one.

No reason at all why not other than buggering up the boot space. However there is a decent sized battery tray in there so it must be possible to find a battery of close enough spec to use without problem. You might go from 55Ah to 50 Ah, but that's a so-what AFAIAC. Caterhams et al run on a tiny battery compared to the ones normally fitted to the donor car. It's not as if an MX5 is overloaded with electrical gadgets that are used without the enine running, after all.

[VladD]

battered said:

brrapp said:

Maybe I'm being a bit thick here, but any reason I couldn't move the battery tray to the middle of the boot and fit a standard sized battery? I imagine there are quite a few MX5 owners who like me never use the boot anyway. You could get the right spec battery for half the price of a standard one.

No reason at all why not other than buggering up the boot space. However there is a decent sized battery tray in there so it must be possible to find a battery of close enough spec to use without problem. You might go from 55Ah to 50 Ah, but that's a so-what AFAIAC. Caterhams et al run on a tiny battery compared to the ones normally fitted to the donor car. It's not as if an MX5 is overloaded with electrical gadgets that are used without the enine running, after all.

The only thing to note is that the standard battery has breather pipes. Some people say that those pipes are to remove waste gasses from the car as they are corrosive. I'm not sure how true that is, but might be worth investigating first.

[J-Tuner]

Re. the breather pipes i went to Bosch direct to query this and this was their offical response :

There are two 6mm vent holes, one at each end of the battery. These allow necessary gases to exit the battery. When a battery is installed outside of the cabin, or under the bonnet, both holes can be left empty.

"If a battery is installed inside a vehicle’s cabin or is in the boot, one vent hole should be sealed with a vent plug. 1 vent plug is provided with each Bosch battery and is usually connected to the pole cap. The other vent hole should be connected to a vent pipe, which takes the gases to the outside of the vehicle and protects the driver and or passengers from potentially poisonous gases."

I've had mine in for 4 years and the boot stays shut for months on end. No issues to date with corrosion or dying. Hope that helps clear this up.