Hi All,
Just had the pleasure of changing my battery as the original had finally given up the ghost.

Been out on a test drive to make sure everything's OK and whilst the electricity seems fine I'm having a lot of trouble changing gear. There were no problems changing gear until after the battery change.

Changes are especially stiff out of reverse and to 2nd, 4th and 6th, and when it's been in the same gear for a while it's really hard to get it to go into a different gear.

I find it hard to believe that it's directly related to the battery (the closest fit I could get was a type 110 Excide from ECP with 80a and 780CCA and yes it needed pieces of wood to hold the battery in place) but is it possible that I've dislodged something that's now obstructing the gear change?

Any help or suggestions would be, as always, greatly appreciated.

OK 1st update.

The design of the battery is such that the plate that's bolted to the positive terminal can't get pushed down far enough and is coming loose.

The car still works but could that cause gear change problems?

Hi,
You don't say what engine you have, but I don't think it makes any difference.
The gearchange is mechanical using cables so no direct electrical involvement. The only likely cause is that you have disturbed or damaged the cables while changing the battery, or dropped something theat has ended up in the mechanism. Think back to what you did to see if you get any clues. There is nothing special about the battery so not sure why you could not get the right size. On the terminal coming loose, you need to sort this out. If it comes off, especially at high revs, the alternator voltage can rise enough (over-shoot) to damage the electronics.

[FONT=&quot]Hi Brian just had a look at ours and there is mighty lump of harness that hangs down from the battery very close to the large cast gear selector thing might be worth tie wrapping the harness out of its path.[/FONT]

Thanks both!

I've taken the connector off and the batteries look identical. I've put it back on with a lot more force and tightened it up as much as I dare.

Telegraph - are you meaning the big cable that comes from the left hand side as you look at the battery? I had it going more towards the back of the battery box now it's more towards the side.

Hi if you reach down to the gearbox at the far end positive terminal end and find a 2 inch square thing and move it thats the gear selector it might just be that it is catching on that big harness assy it needs to move a fair amount.

Thanks Telegraph.

I'll go and check just now in case as g8rpi suggests I've managed to dislodge something that's obstructing it.

Just back from a reasonably long drive with that harness pulled round to the left side and it seems much better.

I couldn't find anything obviously obstructing the mechanism after moving the cable more to the side of the battery box and all seems well.

Hopefully that's done the trick anyway.