A B737-500 WAS DISPATCHED IN NON COMPLIANCE WITH THE CTR TANK FUEL QUANTITY INDICATOR DEFERRED IN CONFLICT WITH THE MEL TANK CHANGE ORDER STATUS.

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THE FUELER RPTED HAVING TROUBLE XFERRING FUEL FROM CTR FUEL TANK. AFTER TALKING WITH FUELER AND TROUBLESHOOTING; I CONCLUDED THAT THE CTR TANK FUEL QUANTITY INDICATION WAS MALFUNCTIONING. WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF LEAD AMT; WE DEFERRED CTR TANK FUEL QUANTITY PER MEL. THE MEL FOR DEFERRING CTR TANK FUEL QUANTITY IS VERY CONFUSING. TECHNICIAN MUST RESEARCH A TOTAL OF 4 CHANGE ORDER AUTHS IN THE COMPUTER. IF SOME HAVE BEEN ACCOMPLISHED; DEFERRAL IS ALLOWED. IF SOME HAVE NOT BEEN ACCOMPLISHED; DEFERRAL IS ALLOWED. THE LEAD AMT RESEARCHED THE CHANGE ORDER AUTHS AND WE BOTH AGREED THAT THE CHANGE ORDER AUTH HAD BEEN ACCOMPLISHED BECAUSE OF THE LETTER 'A' NEXT TO THE CHANGE ORDER AUTH NUMBER. I WAS WRONG. THE LETTER 'A' IN THAT COMPUTER DISPLAY IS JUST A CATEGORY OF CHANGE ORDER AUTH AND NOT AN ACCOMPLISHED INDICATOR. AFTER ACFT DEPARTED; LINE MAINT NOTICED ERROR AND GROUNDED ACFT AT BDL. SOLUTION: ACR MEL SHOULD BE PRECISE IN WHICH CHANGE ORDER AUTH DISPLAY TO USE. TERMINAL AMT'S RARELY USE THESE CHANGE ORDER AUTH DISPLAYS. MORE TRAINING IN THIS AREA AND A LESS CONFUSING MEL WOULD PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING AGAIN.