Narrative:

I was the captain on the last leg of my initial oe. Upon arriving at the gate on may 25th; the gate agent informed us that we had no passengers on board; due to delayed departure; just 3 pilots and 5 flight attendants. I was the flying pilot. We had a normal pushback; taxi; takeoff and climb. Approximately 200 miles west of denver; leveled at FL400; we had a status message left strut ov det 1. We discussed it and completed the mx write up. About 5-10 mins later; we had master caution; EICAS and left engine ovheat light illuminated. We requested a descent to FL240 and captain initiated the non-normal checklist for left engine overheat. During this time; for stabilization I retarded the left throttle to see if we could get the overheat light to extinguish. It took almost idle power on the left throttle to get the light to extinguish. At this stage we were in degraded engine condition and considered for diversion alternatives. Captain consulted with dispatch. We decided on divert to ZZZ; as it was the nearest suitable airport in point of time. At that time we [advised] ATC and requested diversion to ZZZ. We completed all non-normal checklists; referenced the diversion guide; additionally; the captain was a great resource for manually calculating landing performance evaluation; and to help us facilitate crew communications between the cockpit and the flight attendants. We continued with degraded thrust on the left engine to ZZZ and landed uneventfully.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757 flight crew reported experiencing a left engine overheat warning. They reduced power to almost idle and diverted to the nearest suitable airport.

Narrative: I was the Captain on the last leg of my initial OE. Upon arriving at the gate on May 25th; the gate agent informed us that we had no Passengers on board; due to delayed departure; Just 3 pilots and 5 flight attendants. I was the flying pilot. We had a Normal pushback; taxi; takeoff and climb. Approximately 200 miles West of Denver; leveled at FL400; we had a Status message L STRUT OV DET 1. We discussed it and completed the MX write up. About 5-10 mins later; we had Master Caution; EICAS and L engine OVHEAT light illuminated. We requested a descent to FL240 and Captain initiated the Non-normal checklist for L Engine Overheat. During this time; for stabilization I retarded the L throttle to see if we could get the overheat light to extinguish. It took almost idle power on the L throttle to get the light to extinguish. At this stage we were in degraded engine condition and considered for diversion alternatives. Captain consulted with Dispatch. We decided on divert to ZZZ; as it was the nearest suitable airport in point of time. At that time we [advised] ATC and requested diversion to ZZZ. We completed all non-normal checklists; referenced the diversion guide; additionally; the Captain was a great resource for manually calculating landing performance evaluation; and to help us facilitate crew communications between the cockpit and the flight attendants. We continued with degraded thrust on the L engine to ZZZ and landed uneventfully.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.