B737 NG flight crew reported experiencing a #2 engine overheat during departure climb. Flight crew returned to departure airport and landed safely.
Synopsis
B737 NG flight crew reported experiencing a #2 engine overheat during departure climb. Flight crew returned to departure airport and landed safely.
Narrative
This was the first leg of the second day of a two-day trip. Got to the plane and initially the number two engine fire test would not test. No light on the number two fire handle. We wrote up the maintenance item. Maintenance initially could not solve the problem and the delay was about an hour. We eventually decided to de-plane the passengers as the plane was really hot and Maintenance had told us they were going to look for a part in the hangar. About the time the airplane was 99% deplaned; I was told that they had isolated the problem to the no. 2 B loop system...it could be MEL'd and we were good to go; operating the #2 eng overheat detection system in the A only side. PAX (Passengers) were then rebranded and we were good to go.Upon climb out on the ZZZZZ Departure climbing through 17;000 feet; we got the master caution light and associated 6-pack light and an illuminated #2 ENG OVERHEAT light. Initially; I figured this had to be associated with the write up we just had; so to verify I quickly checked both loops A and B independently and the light stayed illuminated for both loops. Engine EGT was normal for both engines. We discussed quickly and decided to treat as ENG OVERHEAT and performed memory items and the rest of the checklist. Upon bringing the thrust lever back to idle; the ENG OVERHEAT light extinguished. I found that running engine at a low thrust setting (approximately 55% N1 the light stayed off; so I left the #2 engine at 55%). We had asked ATC to level at FL190 to troubleshoot. After checklist was complete; I contacted Dispatch and Maintenance Control and informed them I was diverting back to ZZZ. We informed ATC and were give direct ZZZZZ1 on the XXR Approach. A normal decent and arrival was conducted and we landed uneventfully with fire rescue standing by. We got off the runway at [Taxiway] 1 and stopped on Taxiway 2 so fire rescue could examine #2. It was deemed to look normal so we taxied to the gate single engine having shut the #2 after inspection. I wrote up the maintenance entry for the overheat and also for a possible overweight landing. It appeared we would be about 300 lbs overweight but not sure exactly what it ended up being.After the airplane was deplaned; I received a call from the Chief Pilot asking for a quick summary of what happened and how we felt. I gave that to him and it was decided by all parties that it would be best not to continue with our pairing after this kind of event the effects of a high adrenaline event can show up an hour or two later. We had 3 legs planned ahead of us. I was told to standby for a bit as he would talk to scheduling and that the company would figure out a plan for us to get back to ZZZ1. About 15 minutes after the pax had deplaned; the entire crew including FAs and pilots were all waiting on the aircraft for a schedule update when a ZZZ ops mngr or gate mngr (never knew who she was) came down obviously in a rush and said 'what are you guys doing? We have a new plane for you and we are in the process of moving all the bags over to it. We need you to get over there so we can board!' I informed her to take a deep breath; slow down; that the company is working on a solution; but the pilots were going to have to be replaced. She said; 'oh don't tell me that!' at which point I told her I would call scheduling and try to see if I could find out what the plan was. When I finally got ahold of scheduling; the person I talked to had no idea that we were being replaced or why we needed to be replaced. He eventually got me over to crew coordination and they informed me that they were aware and to standby for a schedule update. About this time an ops person came on the plane and told us that they were going to tow the plane to the hangar so we needed to de-plane; which we did. I'm guessing it was about XA:15 local timeThe FO and I went to an empty gate to wait for our pairing update. It was finally updated to an iteration with a deadhead to ZZZ1; however thedeadhead was entered as a placeholder. So we had no seats. The last flight to ZZZ1 was a XC:05 departure an hour away and we had no confirmed seats. So I called scheduling again and after a lengthy sit time on the phone I got on with the same scheduler as before. He said HE could not change our booking to a regular DH because 'once we asked for a placeholder I can't change it'. I informed him that we didn't ask for a placeholder; but that it was built that way by scheduling or coordination or whoever modifies pairings. After being put on hold I was told that all I could do was to list myself under positive space and he could approve it. I was able to do that as it was now late and the (delayed) departure would be boarding soon. Unfortunately I got the last seat so the FO was getting a message when he tried to book saying positive [space] was unable due to oversold situation. When I explained this situation to the scheduler I was told that the FO would have to stay the night in ZZZ on his own dime since he was listed as a placeholder DH! I asked for a supervisor and had to go through this whole process/DH/placeholder explanation again. Finally due to a few no shows the FO was able to get a DH via reservation system and got it approved by the supervisor...I spent a good hour on the phone.
Second reporter narrative
During my preflight duties the #2 engine fire switch would not light up during a fire test. Maintenance was called out and after troubleshooting they figured out it was a fire loop problem. They deferred one of the loops and we left from there. During the climb out of ZZZ on the ZZZZZ Departure we were climbing through 17;000 ft and got an ENG 2 Overheat light. We leveled off at 19;000 ft and ran through the memory items and QRH and made the decision in accordance with Dispatch and Maintenance Control to return to ZZZ. We landed no issues and taxied to the gate after crash fire and rescue checked out the engine.
More incidents for this aircraft family →
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.