Narrative:

During climb out we noticed that the #1 lp vib briefly turned amber; but returned to normal range before I could take action. Noted and wrote it up when we landed. Contract mx went to run up the aircraft with us and didn't notice anything odd until we pulled the power back and the #1 lp vib briefly went amber again. After conferring with maintenance control the contract mechanic determined that the vib was indeed consistent with the MEL for the fan blade that needed to be lubed. He said that makes sense that we may see it during power increases/decreases. He said we should be concerned if the vib was consistently high and power was stable - which was not the case as of yet. We discussed this at length and I was confident with his professional opinion. He signed it off and we boarded and headed back. While climbing through approximately FL230 we noticed the same as before except this time it was definitely not going away. I disconnected the autothrottle and reduced thrust on #1 to keep it out of the amber. We leveled at FL270 as this was the lowest altitude that we had data for. We were unable to increase power beyond 84% N1 on #1; although climb power was 90.1%. This limited us to about 280 KIAS. Wrote it up again when we arrived. Maintenance came out and took the aircraft for a run up. They said they were unable to reproduce the problem on the ground and signed it off and said its good to return to service. I asked if they fixed anything at all and they said no. I voiced my concern and said that this was not safe and they seemed to understand. My first officer and I discussed the issue and both determined that we were not going to fly the aircraft with passengers on board until the problem was fixed. I contacted maintenance control and told them that since the problem was not fixed I didn't believe the aircraft was safe for flight and they said that even though the problem could not be duplicated that it was determined the aircraft was safe for flight. I contacted dispatch and told them we were going to need another aircraft because this one was unsafe for flight with passengers. My dispatcher contacted maintenance control and told me that it was signed off and is safe for flight so 'board them up.' I told him again that I was not going to do that. He said if I was 'refusing' to fly the aircraft then I needed to contact the chief pilot. I said fine. The assistant chief pilot called me about 10 minutes later. I explained the whole situation and said that I don't think its safe and he said 'well it sounds to me like you either need a new airplane or that one needs to be fixed.' I agreed. He called me back about 10 minuets later and said that he spoke with maintenance control and that its a fan blade lubrication issue and the aircraft is going to be overnighting in ZZZ where they were planning on fixing the blades. I said 'ok.....do you want us to ferry it to ZZZ?' he said 'no no we would like it flying today.' I said that I understand; but unfortunately myself and my first officer are in total agreement that we are uncomfortable flying the aircraft as is. They ended up giving us a new aircraft and giving our airplane to another crew to fly with passengers. I felt an extreme amount of pressure to complete the flight by everyone except for my flight crew. I know it's not good for business; but it was a clear; obvious safety issue. I think these things need to be take more seriously. I learned that my professional opinion meant absolutely nothing. I mentioned to everyone involved that it was unsafe. Didn't matter what the captain thought.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB175 Captain notices momentary #1 LP VIB amber reading during climb and informs maintenance upon landing. The problem is diagnosed as a fan blade that needs to be lubed and is already MEL'ed. On the return flight the engine cannot be operated above 84% N1 without an amber VIB reading. The Captain refuses the aircraft for further flight when maintenance can find nothing wrong and signs it off.

Narrative: During climb out we noticed that the #1 LP VIB briefly turned amber; but returned to normal range before I could take action. Noted and wrote it up when we landed. Contract MX went to Run up the aircraft with us and didn't notice anything odd until we pulled the power back and the #1 LP VIB briefly went amber again. After conferring with Maintenance Control the contract mechanic determined that the VIB was indeed consistent with the MEL for the fan blade that needed to be lubed. He said that makes sense that we may see it during power increases/decreases. He said we should be concerned if the VIB was consistently high and power was stable - which was not the case as of yet. We discussed this at length and I was confident with his professional opinion. He signed it off and we boarded and headed back. While climbing through approximately FL230 we noticed the same as before except this time it was definitely not going away. I disconnected the autothrottle and reduced thrust on #1 to keep it out of the Amber. We leveled at FL270 as this was the lowest altitude that we had data for. We were unable to increase power beyond 84% N1 on #1; although climb power was 90.1%. This limited us to about 280 KIAS. Wrote it up again when we arrived. Maintenance came out and took the aircraft for a run up. They said they were unable to reproduce the problem on the ground and signed it off and said its good to return to service. I asked if they fixed anything at all and they said no. I voiced my concern and said that this was not safe and they seemed to understand. My First Officer and I discussed the issue and both determined that we were not going to fly the aircraft with passengers on board until the problem was fixed. I contacted maintenance control and told them that since the problem was not fixed I didn't believe the aircraft was safe for flight and they said that even though the problem could not be duplicated that it was determined the aircraft was safe for flight. I contacted dispatch and told them we were going to need another aircraft because this one was unsafe for flight with passengers. My dispatcher contacted maintenance control and told me that it was signed off and is safe for flight so 'board them up.' I told him again that I was not going to do that. He said if I was 'refusing' to fly the aircraft then I needed to contact the chief pilot. I said fine. The Assistant chief pilot called me about 10 minutes later. I explained the whole situation and said that I don't think its safe and he said 'Well it sounds to me like you either need a new airplane or that one needs to be fixed.' I agreed. He called me back about 10 minuets later and said that he spoke with maintenance control and that its a fan blade lubrication issue and the aircraft is going to be overnighting in ZZZ where they were planning on fixing the blades. I said 'ok.....do you want us to ferry it to ZZZ?' He said 'no no we would like it flying today.' I said that I understand; but unfortunately myself and my First Officer are in total agreement that we are uncomfortable flying the aircraft as is. They ended up giving us a new aircraft and giving our airplane to another crew to fly with passengers. I felt an extreme amount of pressure to complete the flight by everyone except for my flight crew. I know it's not good for business; but it was a clear; obvious safety issue. I think these things need to be take more seriously. I learned that my professional opinion meant ABSOLUTELY nothing. I mentioned to everyone involved that it was unsafe. Didn't matter what the Captain thought.

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.