A B737-200 AFTER AN OVERNIGHT CHK WAS ACCOMPLISHED IT WAS SPOT CHKED LATER BY THE LCL FAA ACR INSPECTORS AND FOUND TO HAVE A #1 ENG COWLING LATCH WORN BUT NOT DISCONNECTED.

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I PERFORMED AN 'OVERNIGHT CHK' ON ACR ACFT; A B737-200 AT ZZZ ARPT. THE CHK WAS PERFORMED BY ANOTHER ACR MECH AND MYSELF. AFTER COMPLETING THE OVERNIGHT CHK AS PER ACR JOB CARD; I MADE A LOGBOOK ENTRY STATING THAT AN OVERNIGHT CHK HAD BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. I THEN WENT HOME AT APPROX XA30 -- AFTER WORKING 16 HRS CONTINUOUS. GEOGRAPHIC INSPECTORS FROM THE ZZZ FSDO CONDUCTED A SPOT INSPECTION ON THE SAID ACFT AND RPTEDLY FOUND A COWL LATCH ON THE INBOARD SIDE OF THE #1 ENG 'LOOSE AND HANGING DOWN APPROX 1/2 INCH.' THEY RPTED THIS TO THE LEAD MECH ON DUTY AND HE INSPECTED THE LATCH; FOUND IT TO BE AIRWORTHY AND SECURE AND PROGRAMMED THE LATCH TO BE REPAIRED OR REPLACED AS REQUIRED AT THE NEXT MAINT ROUTINE OVERNIGHT LAYOVER. THE LATCH WAS SUBSEQUENTLY REPLACED ON NOV/XA/97. I DID NOT NOTICE ANYTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY ON THE #1 ENG DURING MY WALKAROUND INSPECTION THAT WOULD HAVE AFFECTED THE AIRWORTHINESS OR THE SAFETY OF THE ACFT AND THE LEAD MECH WHO SUBSEQUENTLY PROGRAMMED THE LATCH FOR REPAIR ALSO FOUND ITS CONDITION TO BE SAFE; SECURE AND AIRWORTHY. I DO NOT THINK THIS SIT AFFECTED THE AIRWORTHINESS OF THE ACFT OR THE SAFETY OF ITS PAX. THE CAUSE OF THIS INCIDENT IS UNKNOWN; BUT THERE ARE MANY FACTORS THAT I THINK MAY HAVE CAUSED ITS OCCURRENCE SUCH AS: 1) WEATHER -- SNOWING ALL DAY. 2) RAMP CONDITIONS -- SLUSH; SNOW; ICE; AND DE-ICING FLUID ON RAMP. 3) LIGHTING -- INSPECTION WAS PERFORMED AT NIGHT.