[MichaelH]

Oh, please allow me to answer this one! It's a royal PITA what with having to wash and oil it all of the time.

I have thought about fitting one but don't think I'll bother.

 

[Arthur]

Does the K&N Filter make much difference Arthur?

I actually put the K&N filter in my Spider within a couple of days of buying the car...... so have no real way of comparing with the OEM filter.

My gut feeling is that it makes little to no difference.... probably just placebo effect from my younger days. Even the sticker on the airbox makes it feel faster !!!!

I wouldn't waste your money, there's far better things to spend ~£80 on 🍺🍺🍺🍺

 

[Planemo]

I have thought about fitting one but don't think I'll bother.

Don't. When I bought my 124 I found the previous owner had fitted a brand new K&N. It's be coming out this year when I do the service. Zero extra power and a faff to clean/oil as has been said. Nothing wrong with an OE filter.

 

[Planemo]

Stock battery is a Mazda group 35 stop/start battery. It's actually a pretty high end battery and I'll be making every effort to find a comparable battery when it comes time to replace mine. Going on 7 years now with that battery.

Agreed, I reckon the OE battery is good quality, my one is the original (fill caps and all) and this is the 8th winter for the car. But if I leave it for 7-10 days I can tell it's struggling to in these 0degC temps. I don't want to be left high and dry so it'll be going very soon, maybe tomorrow. Can't moan at that longevity though, it's done well.

Edit: yep just ordered the Bosch S4E05 from Tayna for £111.87 delivered (next day). Worked out about £20 more than the Exide but Bosch offers a 4 year warranty rather than the Exides 3 year. Whether it's actually any better is anyones guess but for £20 I took the gamble.

Of note is that the same Bosch battery at Euro car Parts is £209.99 (without delivery)!!!

 

[Planemo]

Just got the Bosch in, I too did away with the corrugated plastic surround. I honestly jave no idea what its purpose is! The Bosch is actually around 15mm shorter than the stock Yuasa so you get very close to bottoming out the threads on the 2 pulldown clamps but theres just enough to crank it tight. Only other thing of note is that the negative terminal needs to be rotated a few degrees clockwise prior to tightening, to make sure the ever-so-delicate module doesnt have any chance of hitting the horizontal top clamp which sits closer to the terminal than the original, just due to the slightly different packaging of the Bosch.

Surprisingly the Yuasa is actually 520CCA (lower than I thought) so the Bosch is actually a nice little upgrade.

 

[Esch]

The plastic surround acts as somewhat of a heat shield since Mazda managed to put our batteries in a horrible place between the hot hot turbo and hot radiator. It sees massive temp swings which is why you’re lucky to get 4 years out of these things. There’s a reason why almost every European manufacturer puts them in the trunk like Fiat did on the original spider.

 

[Planemo]

The plastic surround acts as somewhat of a heat shield since Mazda managed to put our batteries in a horrible place between the hot hot turbo and hot radiator. It sees massive temp swings which is why you’re lucky to get 4 years out of these things. There’s a reason why almost every European manufacturer puts them in the trunk like Fiat did on the original spider.

Odd cos mine made 8 years and was still starting the car in sub zero C temps if not left for more than 10 days.

I honestly dont see how the skinny corrugated plastic will make much odds to batt temp cos once everything is heat soaked, its heat soaked. Theres not even a line of sight from the turbine to the battery either. But of course folk are free to continue using it, providing it fits the new battery of course

 

[Esch]

Exactly…because it’s corrugated, it provides a trapped air gap so the battery sides at least are not directly exposed. 8 years is very lucky although both my Audis are on their original 10,12 yrs with batteries in the trunk or boot.

 

[XtremeRevolution]

The plastic surround acts as somewhat of a heat shield since Mazda managed to put our batteries in a horrible place between the hot hot turbo and hot radiator. It sees massive temp swings which is why you’re lucky to get 4 years out of these things. There’s a reason why almost every European manufacturer puts them in the trunk like Fiat did on the original spider.

Temperature swings won't kill the battery IF you keep it topped off. The high temperatures simply cause the battery to lose water faster, but consequently also help it charge faster. I did notice I have to top off a significant amount of distilled water every year despite not really driving all that much. I credit this (in addition to keeping the battery on a charger during winter storage) for the long life I've been able to get out of my battery.

That being said, those engine temps will kill a non-serviceable battery even faster since you aren't able to top off the electrolyte levels. Once those lead plates get exposed, runaway degradation will occur and the battery life will be severely shortened.

It's not impossible to get over 10 years out of a battery. My father bought a 2008 Tacoma in California and ran its original battery until he gave the truck to my brother with 300,000 miles on it, and my brother drove it to Indiana and forgot the cabin light on and fully discharged the battery, which resulted in irreversible damage. That was in 2020, so 12 years out of that battery. My 124 Spider's battery has 8 years on it now and it's still in excellent shape. The test I ran on it last spring showed 90% capacity remaining but I can also perform a starter load test on it too to get a more accurate measurement. I'll probably do that when I start driving it again in March.

 

[Planemo]

Exactly…because it’s corrugated, it provides a trapped air gap so the battery sides at least are not directly exposed. 8 years is very lucky although both my Audis are on their original 10,12 yrs with batteries in the trunk or boot.

Directly exposed to what though? Hot air? There isnt any direct infra red except possibly the front face of the battery from the rad. I get that the plastic will insulate for a time, and because of this it may prevent large temp swings on short journeys, but once underbonnets are up to full temp (maybe 45mins?) it makes no odds. I concede though, I guess if someone uses a 124 for short trips it may be a factor.

I used to have similar conversations with folk who simply could not compute that an intercooler (without water spray etc) will never cool less than ambient.

 

[slowindown]

Whether the corrugated plastic thing is useful or not, I reused it.

 

[Mac.mckernan]

Hello party people,

Which type of battery is fitted to the Spider by default?

I’m assuming it’s lead acid but is it gel/AGM/maintenance free etc?

I checked the voltage today and it was 12.1v so I’ve took it out for a spin and it’s now 13.3v

It is below 0 at the moment and pretty cold. I’m just wondering if the battery is getting close to its end of life or is it the current cold snap? It’s also been parked in garage for 3 weeks with no driving.

Mines a 2018 Spider with 31k miles.

thanks,

Michael

 

[Mac.mckernan]

I just replaced my battery on my 2018 purchased new February 2019 so I got five years out of it. I bought an Optima 35 redtop with 720 Cold Crank Amp. That should start you Spider in the cold. On Amazon it was $292 including 7.5 percent tax.

 

[Mikeydred]

The Optima 35 Redtop is 31 lbs or roughly 9 lbs lighter than the oem and most other replacements. The fact that we have a 40lb battery in our underpowered 2300lbs car is just a glaring missed opportunity in my opinion. I don't need replacement yet but "lighter" is the way I'm angling when the time comes.

 

[MichaelH]

I've fit a new battery (Bosch) and refit everything. I've noticed though, and this was when the old battery was fitted as well, that the paint is coming off the battery clamp and its also producing small quantities of white powder (no jokes please!) - what is this? I'm guessing its some sort of chemical reaction from the clamp?

 

[Arthur]

I've fit a new battery (Bosch) and refit everything. I've noticed though, and this was when the old battery was fitted as well, that the paint is coming off the battery clamp and its also producing small quantities of white powder (no jokes please!) - what is this? I'm guessing its some sort of chemical reaction from the clamp?

It's common with lead acid batteries as they leak/age. Clean it off, be careful and don't get it in your eyes !!!!!

 

[MichaelH]

Thanks Arthur. How come that is still appearing after I fitted a new battery? I cleaned the clamp before refitting. The white powder is literally from the clamp, the new battery is in prestine condition.

 

[Arthur]

Thanks Arthur. How come that is still appearing after I fitted a new battery? I cleaned the clamp before refitting.

You probably had a small leak on the old battery. The white residue is very caustic and difficult to neutralise with water alone..... so the salts my reappear if not cleaned off fully. Baking soda and water should do the job.......

 

[MichaelH]

Great, thanks Arthur.

 

[MichaelH]

You probably had a small leak on the old battery. The white residue is very caustic and difficult to neutralise with water alone..... so the salts my reappear if not cleaned off fully. Baking soda and water should do the job.......

View attachment 107320

This is how the underside of the clamp looks. I will use some M&S bicarbonate of soda. That’s not any bicarbonate of soda. That’s m&s bicarbonate of soda