Narrative:

I arrived at the gate to find the aircraft had been sitting; since its arrival; without power or heat. After applying power to the aircraft; my first concern; due to the time it would take to complete the task and get new fuel; was amending our filed route. Dispatch had filed our flight on a 'canned' route. A route which took us through a fast moving cold front with moderate turbulence ; at all altitudes; and embedded thunderstorms on the southern portion of the route. I had our dispatcher; who was extremely helpful; file us around the back side of the front. I then turned my attention to the logbook. The paperwork; the logbook cover; and the lower panel indicated that I had three mels: left and right fuel transfer valves MEL 28; and a flight attendant flashlight. I opened the logbook and turned to the most recent page to find the following corrective action with no associated write-up:'in reference to MEL [left/right fuel transfer valves] applies and valve behavior is consistent with MEL'i then went to the MEL/cdl manual to research the MEL. The mels covered the left and right fuel transfer valves and indicated that they were failed to the open position. The MEL indicated that; in this condition; there is an unusual distribution of the fuel quantity. The fuel in the outer tank on the affected side will transfer to the inner tank even when the inner tank is not empty. I then checked the fuel sd (system display) page to verify that the valves indicated that they were open. The valves indicated closed. Looking back through the entirety of the logbook I discovered a history [over the course of a few days]; of incorrect; incomplete; inaccurate; and confusing write-ups and associated corrective actions.if the valves are closed; they must be manually opened by mx; which they were; but MEL [left/right fuel transfer valves] do not direct this action. I believe MEL [for] fuel transfer valves closed is applicable. This MEL directs mx to electrically set the valves to the open position prior to every flight.I called mx in order to clear the issue up. I told him that I was concerned about the position of the transfer valves. We walked through the MEL and I was told that I would not have an open indication on the sd page if the valves had failed to the open position. I was also under the impression that this might be an intermittent problem. I would only have that message if mx had locked the valves in the open position. I asked if he could be sure that the fuel in the outer tanks would not be trapped. I was told that the previous crew did not report any issues. I know that the valves open automatically when a low fuel level is sensed in either wing tank and all transfer valves will open under this condition; but I wondered if the previous crew burned enough fuel to even see if the transfer valves would function normally. I checked the arrival fuel and found that they landed within 11;000 pounds of fuel. Way too much to require the opening of the transfer valves. In concurrence with mx; the cp (chief pilot); and dispatch I decided to consider the fuel in the outer tanks unusable and I loaded extra fuel in my wing tanks. I expressed my concerns over the safety of other crews flying this plane. This aircraft is a neo and it is not uncommon for us to land at or below 6.0 fob (fuel on board). In the event that the transfer valves don't open; a crew could quickly find themselves in an emergency fuel state.during the flight I further researched the logbook to find that we departed with a bad logbook. The mels had been improperly cleared and had not been properly reapplied. Had this not occurred [early in the morning] followed by a [very early] wake up and a crummy flight plan; I would like to think I would not have departed. Much of the problem lies within our outsourced mx. No [company] mx crews had laid eyes on this logbook for two weeks. I often find incorrectly applied or missing mels in the logbook.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 flight crew reported conflicting write ups and inaccurate corrective actions that led to a departure with an incorrect MEL applied to the aircraft.

Narrative: I arrived at the gate to find the aircraft had been sitting; since its arrival; without power or heat. After applying power to the aircraft; my first concern; due to the time it would take to complete the task and get new fuel; was amending our filed route. Dispatch had filed our flight on a 'canned' route. A route which took us through a fast moving cold front with moderate turbulence ; at all altitudes; and embedded thunderstorms on the southern portion of the route. I had our dispatcher; who was extremely helpful; file us around the back side of the front. I then turned my attention to the logbook. The paperwork; the logbook cover; and the lower panel indicated that I had three MELs: left and right fuel transfer valves MEL 28; and a flight attendant flashlight. I opened the logbook and turned to the most recent page to find the following corrective action with no associated write-up:'In reference to MEL [L/R fuel transfer valves] applies and valve behavior is consistent with MEL'I then went to the MEL/CDL manual to research the MEL. The MELs covered the left and right fuel transfer valves and indicated that they were failed to the OPEN position. The MEL indicated that; in this condition; there is an unusual distribution of the fuel quantity. The fuel in the outer tank on the affected side will transfer to the inner tank even when the inner tank is not empty. I then checked the fuel SD (System Display) page to verify that the valves indicated that they were open. The valves indicated closed. Looking back through the entirety of the logbook I discovered a history [over the course of a few days]; of incorrect; incomplete; inaccurate; and confusing write-ups and associated corrective actions.If the valves are closed; they must be manually opened by MX; which they were; but MEL [L/R fuel transfer valves] do not direct this action. I believe MEL [for] fuel transfer valves closed is applicable. This MEL Directs MX to electrically set the valves to the OPEN position prior to every flight.I called MX in order to clear the issue up. I told him that I was concerned about the position of the transfer valves. We walked through the MEL and I was told that I would not have an open indication on the SD page if the valves had FAILED to the open position. I was also under the impression that this might be an intermittent problem. I would only have that message if MX had locked the valves in the open position. I asked if he could be sure that the fuel in the outer tanks would not be trapped. I was told that the previous crew did not REPORT any issues. I know that the valves open automatically when a low fuel level is sensed in either wing tank and all transfer valves will open under this condition; but I wondered if the previous crew burned enough fuel to even see if the transfer valves would function normally. I checked the arrival fuel and found that they landed within 11;000 LBS of fuel. Way too much to require the opening of the transfer valves. In concurrence with MX; the CP (Chief Pilot); and Dispatch I decided to consider the fuel in the outer tanks unusable and I loaded extra fuel in my wing tanks. I expressed my concerns over the safety of other crews flying this plane. This aircraft is a NEO and it is not uncommon for us to land at or below 6.0 FOB (Fuel On Board). In the event that the transfer valves don't open; a crew could quickly find themselves in an emergency fuel state.During the flight I further researched the logbook to find that we departed with a bad logbook. The MELs had been improperly cleared and had not been properly reapplied. Had this not occurred [early in the morning] followed by a [very early] wake up and a crummy flight plan; I would like to think I would not have departed. Much of the problem lies within our outsourced MX. No [company] MX crews had laid eyes on this logbook for two weeks. I often find incorrectly applied or missing MELs in the logbook.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.