I suspected that the old battery may have been responsible for a spike of voltage or a lack of voltage that caused problems with the IPK instrument cluster and other electronics which have taken me a while to resolve. The usual signs if a failing battery was with the onset of cooler mornings and the battery not having sufficient power to start the engine. Then after recharging with the battery charger then failing again. Then the final test was to recharge the battery again, leaving it disconnected a couple of days to find again out has discharged …… so was definitely past it’s best …… it was also nearly seven years old.
It seems there are 2 classes of battery – premium batteries and the rest! I wanted a decent battery as I intended to keep the car for a long while and also I want the confidence the car will start after longish periods of non use. The other thing I wanted was a battery with the condition indicator. Premium batteries are for example LUCAS, EXIDE, BOSCH and YUASA.
After checking out specs, reviews and doing some research on prices and warranty periods I went for the Yuasa ……. early days but so far so good.
MG ZT info mods and maintenance 