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Floyd;
Confirm exact magnitude of the the charging/discharging current with an AMPmeter connected per the "H" diagram...anything else is by indirect approximating methods and could be just plain wrong if an unusual condition (like a poor connection) exists...that is why assuring connections is so important...
It's also not possible to measure that Voltage when it is connected to the battery (in this case, a load) without a charging current flowing (because that output Voltage of the charging system is a higher Voltage than the battery could ever have on its own)...the exact amount is impossible to know without measuring, but current is bound by Ohms Law! Amps flow as a resultant of the difference in Voltage at the output of the Charging System (in general terms, and without going into laborious details, set by the Voltage Regulator), and Voltage of the Battery (set by its chemistry and state of charge), so if you measure 13.5V across the battery posts, by definition the charging system is doing its job, and so if the battery does not hold a charge, the only suspect left is the battery...the guys at Kragen probably did a "Load Test" where they apply a high load and watch what the Voltage does...if it doesn't collapse in X number of seconds, they call it "OK"...they certainly didn't do a long-term charge holding test, and that is where your old battery is weak as you have stated.
13.5V across the battery, is also consistent with a high internal resistance (which sounds right for a old battery with sulfated plates).
OE batteries fitted to cars in the factory seem to be of a higher construction quality that often makes it past 5 years. Replacement batteries are engineered to the nit so that after 60 months, they are on borrowed time.
I think it's time for a new battery!
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