Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 165.85; Flight Crew Total 1287.50; Flight Crew Type 1287.50
Communication Breakdown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural MEL / CDL; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Aircraft; Procedure
Upon completing a preflight walk around; my First Officer informed me that there was a hydraulic leak in the Right Wheel well; and 'puddle' underneath. He was trying to count the drips to quantify the extent of the leak; but I felt it was important to have Maintenance evaluate to see if it was within any limit. We contacted Station Maintenance and filled out an ELB write-up. This was 27-25 minutes prior to scheduled push. Approx. 10 minutes after push; without ANY contact by Maintenance personnel; I received an MRD that said that there was 'water' coming from the air conditioning; and the HYDRAULIC leak was cleared. This created confusion; as the First Officer; who is approx. 6 months on the line was sure it was hydraulic. I went down and inspected the area and there was a puddle of hydraulic fluid with a leaking component above it. I contacted Station Maintenance and asked for the mechanic to return to the aircraft where I pointed out the HYDRAULIC leak. Subsequently; fittings were tightened and we were on our way. Had we given in to operational pressures to minimize the delay and trust the erroneous MRD we would have flown over 5 hours overwater with a known hydraulic leak. While mistakes happen to everyone; had the mechanic attempted to resolve the discrepancy in the write up; as we did; we could have resolved it as a team.
B737 Captain reported Maintenance incorrectly identified leak resulting in Captain recalling maintenance to return to fix hydraulics.