Dash8 first officer reports five engine ecu (electronic control unit) failures over a period of thre...

Narrative:

At the end of the runway the #2 engine man caution light illuminated. The captain contacted maintenance and the #2 ecu was MEL'd. It had been MEL'd the day before and was cleared by resetting circuit breakers. Once we got to lga; the MEL was cleared and we were late for our next flight. We taxied out to the runway and the #2 engine man caution light illuminated again. The captain again contacted maintenance and the #2 was MEL'd again. On takeoff; I was pilot flying and at 100 feet the #1 engine man caution light illuminated. We contacted maintenance control and contract maintenance was sent out along with a company maintenance technician. We originated the same airplane the next day. The #2 ecu was replaced and circuit breakers were reset on the #1 side. We taxied out and departed and the #1 engine man caution light illuminated at 100 feet. Once we got to destination the captain called and the #1 ecu was MEL'd again. Maintenance came out and after an hour the beta backup system was MEL'd. We completed a runup and we were able to sign off the aircraft. In total we had four ecu failures in three legs; and there was a total of five ecu failures in 3 days. The ecu continually failed and maintenance made repeat sign offs. The circuit breakers were reset twice on the #2 side and it kept failing and were reset once on the #1 side; only to fail. Have maintenance complete work on an MEL'd item instead of repeatedly resetting circuit breakers.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Dash8 First Officer reports five engine ECU (electronic control unit) failures over a period of three days; with an equal number of attempted repairs and MEL's.

Narrative: At the end of the runway the #2 engine man caution light illuminated. The Captain contacted Maintenance and the #2 ECU was MEL'd. It had been MEL'd the day before and was cleared by resetting circuit breakers. Once we got to LGA; the MEL was cleared and we were late for our next flight. We taxied out to the runway and the #2 engine man caution light illuminated again. The Captain again contacted Maintenance and the #2 was MEL'd again. On takeoff; I was pilot flying and at 100 feet the #1 engine man caution light illuminated. We contacted Maintenance Control and Contract Maintenance was sent out along with a company maintenance technician. We originated the same airplane the next day. The #2 ECU was replaced and circuit breakers were reset on the #1 side. We taxied out and departed and the #1 engine man caution light illuminated at 100 feet. Once we got to destination the Captain called and the #1 ECU was MEL'd again. Maintenance came out and after an hour the beta backup system was MEL'd. We completed a runup and we were able to sign off the aircraft. In total we had four ECU failures in three legs; and there was a total of five ECU failures in 3 days. The ECU continually failed and maintenance made repeat sign offs. The circuit breakers were reset twice on the #2 side and it kept failing and were reset once on the #1 side; only to fail. Have maintenance complete work on an MEL'd item instead of repeatedly resetting circuit breakers.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Attributes
ACN	853447
Time
Date	200909
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Dash 8-100
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb Initial Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Engine Control
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

Dash8 first officer reports five engine ecu (electronic control unit) failures over a period of three days; with an equal number of attempted repairs and MEL's.