>>20516537 signifies it's used for generating power. It's a GE catalogue specification. 5 is used for electric motors etc.
F is for the bore size. 9" in this case
D is for diesel
L is for locomotive use
There will be a "- N" at the end for the number of cylinders.
So, 7FDL-16 is most used in North America, but 12 cylinders are common internationally.
The white stuff looks to be cooling water coming from the water inlet pipe. Not sure what's going on because they have the crankcase inspection cover taken off in the bottom right.