AN MD88 WAS DISPATCHED IN NON COMPLIANCE WITH A DEFERRED ELEVATOR PWR ON INDICATING SYS OUT OF TIME LIMITS; DUE TO CARELESS PAPERWORK MGMNT.

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ON SEP/SAT/00; I WAS GIVEN ACFT XYZ TO WORK ON. PREVIOUS SHIFT MAINT HAD REPLACED THE EPR XMITTER FOR A THROTTLE SPLIT PROB AND HAD ACCOMPLISHED AN OVERNIGHT CHK. THE EPR XMITTER WAS INSTALLED BUT NEEDED AN 'O' RING ON THE SENSE LINE. MY PARTNER INSTALLED THE 'O' RING AND VERIFIED THAT THE NEW PART WAS INSTALLED. I TOOK THE ACFT TO THE RUN-UP AREA AND RAN THE ENG AT THE PWR SETTING AS PER THE MAINT MANUAL. EVERYTHING CHKED OUT AND I DELIVERED THE ACFT TO THE GATE. THERE WAS NO SIGN OFF FOR THE INSTALLATION OF THE PART; SO I HAD TO SIGN FOR THE REMOVAL AND REPLACEMENT OF THE EPR XMITTER WHICH I WAS NOT HAPPY ABOUT. THERE WAS NO MENTION OF INITIATING A FOLLOW-UP IN THE LOGBOOK. ALL OF THE OPEN ITEMS ON THE LOG PAGE WERE SIGNED OFF SO I SIGNED OFF THE AIRWORTHINESS. UNKNOWN TO ME; THERE WAS A FOLLOW-UP REQUIREMENT FOR MEL 27-14 THAT HAD TO BE DONE ON THE OVERNIGHT THAT WAS NOT DONE. I DID NOT CHK THE MEL STICKER ON THE LOGBOOK COVER; BUT I ASSUMED THAT THE MEL WAS CONTINUED ON PREVIOUS SHIFT. THE CREW TOOK THE PLANE AND FLEW A COUPLE OF LEGS UNTIL THE DISCREPANCY WAS NOTICED IN XXX. XXX COMPLIED WITH THE FOLLOW-UP AND NOTIFIED ZZZ MAINT WHO IN TURN NOTIFIED ME. I DID NOT INVESTIGATE THE MEL ON THE ACFT BEFORE SIGNING THE ACFT AIRWORTHINESS; BUT ASSUMED THAT THE PREVIOUS SHIFT HAD ADDRESSED WHATEVER MAINT WAS REQUIRED WHETHER IT WAS WORKING ON THE SYS OR DEFERRING IT.