Narrative:

After starting engine we observed the following lights: left forward window-over heat amber light; left pack amber light; right zone temp amber light. Also; the ram air door full open light was not illuminated. We followed the QRH procedures for each of the three amber lights without correcting the discrepancy. The engines were shut down and we called operations to get maintenance and the air stairs. The local mechanic was called from home.I remained in the aircraft while the captain went to operations and got on the phone with maintenance control. While in the aircraft I performed the steps that were requested by maintenance. The jet had an MEL item; 21-4; that stated the ram air door was supposed to be open and held open by the maintenance actions required per the MEL. The ram air door was actually closed and after further research it appears that the maintenance procedure required under the MEL was either never performed or had been cleared but not noted in the logbook. The flight release also noted a performance penalty of 200 pounds. So if this problem had been corrected; dispatch was also unaware. The logbook write-up stated the left pack light illuminated during recall; with maintenance action stating they had placarded the left-hand pack actuator ram air and performed MEL 21-4. Maintenance control had the mechanic placard the left-hand pack. The zone temperature light extinguished after this procedure as well. We did not observe a subsequent entry in the logbook that removed MEL 21-4 and the placard from MEL 21-4 was still affixed adjacent to the air conditioning panel.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-800 flight crew recounted several maintenance discrepancies in response to a malfunctioning air conditioning pack and the MEL procedures required to defer the system.

Narrative: After starting engine we observed the following lights: left forward window-over heat amber light; left pack amber light; right zone temp amber light. Also; the ram air door full open light was not illuminated. We followed the QRH procedures for each of the three amber lights without correcting the discrepancy. The engines were shut down and we called Operations to get Maintenance and the air stairs. The Local Mechanic was called from home.I remained in the aircraft while the Captain went to Operations and got on the phone with Maintenance Control. While in the aircraft I performed the steps that were requested by Maintenance. The jet had an MEL item; 21-4; that stated the ram air door was supposed to be open and held open by the maintenance actions required per the MEL. The ram air door was actually closed and after further research it appears that the maintenance procedure required under the MEL was either never performed or had been cleared but not noted in the logbook. The flight release also noted a performance penalty of 200 LBS. So if this problem had been corrected; Dispatch was also unaware. The logbook write-up stated the left pack light illuminated during recall; with maintenance action stating they had placarded the left-hand pack actuator ram air and performed MEL 21-4. Maintenance Control had the Mechanic placard the left-hand pack. The zone temperature light extinguished after this procedure as well. We did not observe a subsequent entry in the logbook that removed MEL 21-4 and the placard from MEL 21-4 was still affixed adjacent to the air conditioning panel.

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.