Pontiac Repair: Aztec battery/ starting issues, digital volt meter, trickle charger

Question
I have an '04 Aztec with a two year old battery. The vehicle was turning over hard and is now not starting at all.  The battery was tested to have full voltage but low amperage (175).  I was sold a trickle charger to bring the amperage up to run a load test and charged it over night.  It started once then wouldn't start again.  I then bought charging posts to try to charge just the battery without the battery hooked up to the car and then the charger went to fully charged in a couple of minutes yet still not starting the car.  I was told that the battery must be fully charged to run the load test which is necessary to find the problem.  What is my next step?

Answer
Hi Mark:

just because the battery is 2 years old doesn't mean it's good. It could have a bad cell in it and then it woulcn't take a full charge and the cahrger may say it full charged. A bad cell can discharge a battery as well. Have the battey checked at another place. Some times a fancy digital tester will pass a test but a good old fashioned Carbon puile load test will reveal a bad battery. I would look long and hard at the battery cables. if there is any corrosion present on/in them replace which ever one is bad. Start there. also a parasitic draw test would be in order which is where a digital volt meter is hooked up in series with the battery to cjheckto see how much amperage the car is drawing with everything off. anything under 25 milliams would be considered normal. It should be checked after the car has sat for at least 20 minutes before that the drawe may be higher until all the modules in the car power down some say active even know the car is shut off. good luck :-)