Narrative:

[The aircraft] had a status message on the EICAS screen (fuel qty channel). Upon troubleshooting the system; we discovered that the circuit breaker fuel qty 1 on the P11 panel was tripped and would not reset. Troubleshooting further per the fim (fault isolation manual) a bite check on the fuel quantity processor displayed a channel 1 fault code D1; which is a densitometer fault. Channel 2 system checked ok. At this time I wanted to defer channel 1 but maintenance controller said we could not because of the D1 fault; that we had to defer the densitometer. I believe that in the several phone conversation that I had with maintenance control; he did not hear me say that per the MEL for deferring the densitometer it was required to pull 4 circuit breakers; then go and [remove the connector from the densitometer]; then go back and reset those 4 circuit breakers. The fuel qty 1 circuit breaker would not reset so I decided to go back and defer channel 1 [of the fuel quantity indication system] which requires the fuel qty 1 circuit breaker to be pulled and collared. [We] were very busy that night. We had three other deferred maintenance items that were being issued that night on aircraft very close to departure time. [We] were handling all four deferred maintenance items and there was lots of activity and probably some confusion that busy night. [It was a] very busy night for one [maintenance controller] and one [maintenance technician] to handle four aircraft at the same time and try to get them out on time. Also [I am] still training my self and getting use to using the efb [electronic flight bag]. The efb is a good computer but is very finger sensitive when trying to move thru the MEL quickly.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Maintenance Technician reported difficulty in troubleshooting a complex aircraft system as well as communicating the condition to the Maintenance Controller. This led to confusion on the MEL that was to be applied.

Narrative: [The aircraft] had a status message on the EICAS screen (Fuel QTY CHANNEL). Upon troubleshooting the system; we discovered that the circuit breaker FUEL QTY 1 on the P11 panel was tripped and would not reset. Troubleshooting further per the FIM (Fault Isolation Manual) a bite check on the fuel quantity processor displayed a channel 1 fault code D1; which is a densitometer fault. Channel 2 system checked ok. At this time I wanted to defer channel 1 but Maintenance Controller said we could not because of the D1 fault; that we had to defer the densitometer. I believe that in the several phone conversation that I had with Maintenance Control; he did not hear me say that per the MEL for deferring the densitometer it was required to pull 4 circuit breakers; then go and [remove the connector from the densitometer]; then go back and reset those 4 circuit breakers. The FUEL QTY 1 Circuit Breaker would not reset so I decided to go back and defer channel 1 [of the fuel quantity indication system] which requires the FUEL QTY 1 Circuit Breaker to be pulled and collared. [We] were very busy that night. We had three other deferred maintenance items that were being issued that night on aircraft very close to departure time. [We] were handling all four deferred maintenance items and there was lots of activity and probably some confusion that busy night. [It was a] very busy night for one [Maintenance Controller] and one [Maintenance Technician] to handle four aircraft at the same time and try to get them out on time. Also [I am] still training my self and getting use to using the EFB [Electronic Flight Bag]. The EFB is a good computer but is very finger sensitive when trying to move thru the MEL quickly.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.