For those that don't know, those knobs he's turning are directly into the combustion chamber. You open them and turn the engine over to check for and clear any coolant or fuel buildup in the cylinder before starting the engine. Kind of a safety protocol to detect problems and prevent bend rods in a leak situation.

I'm a retired tug captain after over 45 years on tugs. This brings back SO many memories. The 645 was always my favorite engines.

Love the all 2 stroke engine room. Especially as an old gm diesel tech. EMD remains one of the best engines of all time

My dad was on the Nautilus during WW 2 as the mechanical engineer over those types of engines. He went to the diesel school probably in La Grange to learn about the engine. After the war he became a NYC fireman and served on the NY fireboat of Marine Company 1. I can't imagine being in the engine room and hearing that sound close up.

Don’t know why this was recommended video but I used to be the engineer on a boat with a 16-567 I put 645 power assemblies in it and converted it to naturally aspirated the 567 turbo was a never ending nightmare a real pain to replace that monster did it twice before I put blowers and 645 kits in it. It was a very reliable engine after getting rid of the turbo

I love hearing tugs going down the Savannah River……because they sound just like an EMD SD40-2. And this is why. They have the same engine block!

I worked on SEDCO oil rigs for many years. They had EMDS. So easy to maintain as long as you kept the air boxes clean. Wonderful piece of machinery.

I was a engineer on a tow boat in the Mississippi River for years. We had 645 EMD's on our boats. Our engine room was quite a bit bigger than this one. And ours was quite a bit cleaner than this one. I took great pride in my engin room and equipment. The 645 EMD'S would take care of you, if you took care of them.

That sure brings back fond memories of when I was a tug engineer. Thanks so much!

I used to work on an offshore tug that had 12 cyl turbo EMDs. Brings back memories!

I used to rebuild these engines at Westrail, The Western Australian Government Railways. 645 E3 Turbo/Supercharged 16 Cylinder Locomotive Engines. 3300 HP in the L-Class Locos. Thanks for the Video.

The EMD is one of the best or the best engines ever built in the world, ,,and built-in the US ,,there's many engines out there that come close,but hands down the EMD is number one in my book

I worked on three or four crab boats that had two of these in the engine room, beautiful sounding engine. Helped the engineer do a power pack on one in rough weather and it really wasn’t that difficult. Had an inexperienced engineer one time on the boat and somehow he blew all of the inspection covers off and filled the whole engine room with smoke, after getting some new covers the engine ran fine. With the right muffler these things sound really good outside.

Good job Chief, God knows I seen my share on older boats,,,and that's my favorite part of doing repairs, starting the Engines back up and getting some much needed rest

I worked for SeDco on the offshore drilling rigs. 135 and 700 series. Got to know every nut and bolt on these EMDs. So easy to work on. This video certainly brings back memories. Thanks for posting it.

That was one of the quickest startups I have ever heard for any EMD diesel engine. Looks like it "works" for a living, too. Imagine that!

Same type of EMD used to various diesel locomotives. Great reliable engine. Thanks for the interesting clip, enjoyed it.

That sweet sweet sound of a Roots blown GM twinstroke. Nothing else quite like it.

The EMDs always sound unique and beautiful. I like them.

I love these motors. As a matter of fact, I love all motors. Life of an engineer. Cool vid

Love the 6-71 series generator speaking her piece!!!!

Love the hinged valve cover "hoods". I wish cars were like that

Okay now, those are my official favorite tugs from now on.

Brings back great memories. Marine propulsion. 567, 645, 710. 2 Engine and 4 engine configuration.

I used to have two in a harbor tug I ran. They were beast of motors. You couldn't kill em. They both ran extremely strong. The new boats today have caterpillars and lack a lot compared to these motora

you got to love that GM diesel just running like mad in the background.

Large engines like this have always scared me for some reason but I am also totally mesmerized and captivated by them!💜

3:31 that "redline" 🤗 dan that sounds perfect

When I was a junior engineer on tugs if my chief walked into the engine room and my engines were that dirty he would have had a shit fit. I know she's an old war horse but show some pride and clean her up. It's been years since I've started EMD's so really enjoyed it. Brought back memories.

love the sounds of the Detroit diesel gen in the background

Perfect start !!

A great symphony of power!

EMD SD40-2 prime mover minus the turbo. Sounds like an EMD 567 prime mover, the ones they used in F-units.

We have 2 of these bad boys in one of our Cable Dredger. They are both fully operational and for me they still get the job done.

That air starter really kicks that thing over fast! I love those old EMD 2-Stroke engines. My favorite is the turbocharged v16. I did get to put my hands on a roots blown 16-645 in a rail museum but it was a static display piece in a GP38AC locomotive that no longer ran. But it was still fun to climb all over and explore. I've seen so many EMD startup videos I bet I could do it from memory, lol. At least on one of the older units. Not sure about the newer ones with all of the fancy electronics. Anyways GREAT video!

Went to the US Army's school at Ft Eustis, VA in 1967. Was trained on LCM-8s, LCUs, and 45', 65' and 105' tug boats in the harbor craft boatswain's course. The LCM-8s had 4 GM 671 in line diesels, in two pairs to drive the twin screws. Wish I could remember what type diesels the tugs had.

Reminds me of when I worked on a boat. The boat I worked on had two EMD Model L16-645F7B engines.

I found a 645E3 engine maintenance manual (turbocharged) recently from November, 1965. Pretty cool!

So that what my dad did as chief engineer. Looks pretty cool, rip pop

Cool video thanks for sharing

I can’t handle the noise of these beasts.

I'm used to seeing these big EMD's start up on locomotives. The air starter on this tug really spins that thing over fast and kicks her off quick by comparison.

americas finest engine

Ran these aboard Nimitz, emergency back-up generators. It was a good day when we got orders to fire them up. Brings back memories.

There are a number of them still out there, got off a ship with one just a couple of weeks ago. You can't kill 'em and they are fun to work on.

This is great work

Love that sound! That and an EMD 567!

Similar procedure we used to do on Fairbanks 38 8 1/8 blow down and start up , all we used it for was snorkeling or emergency power during a reactor scram.

I still have my blow down Key in my tool box. it's 40 years since i used it..... except we called it a baring over key, as the EMD's i worked on had to be barred over with a bar in the flywheel . .

still remember that GM engine. way back in 1995 when use to operate it and US Naval Base Cuba . now am still .working as Generator operator maintenance her my home country

Looks like alotta effort

Used to do this when I worked for the RR. Sounds the same as an old beltpack yard unit.

Great start!!!

That looks like the same exact engine inside of some older diesel locomotives.

I did overhauls for artco 20+ yrs ago. soooo easy to rebuild . recently overhauled cat engines and they are easy also,just more o-rings

Great stuff

Nothin’ like a two-stroke diesel to power up your day be it main propulsion or just a little juice for the reefers..... Ya gotta love them headphones.

Interesting stuff

So many engine startup videos on youtube, so little time :)

Daggum what a big ole engine..when boat ain't moving is engine still idling? HUGE powerhouse...so cool!

I used to supervise servicing 2 of these engins which were coupled with 3.3MVA gen sets. Apparently these two generators were used in Vietnam's war by US army. I do not know how these two gensets came to Sri Lanka. Only issue I found was the oil leak on the exhaust near turbocharger inlet. Could not find the root cause but the problem was fixed by advancing the timing by couple of degrees. I still love the sound.

Nice video sir

Love the sound of that ol’ EMD’s baby brother working in the background.

Sounds good!!!! Greetings from brasil

krthompson According to the data plate this engine was manufactured in 1970 as a locomotive engine with a turbocharger and rated at 3000 hp. The brass plate tells me that it was converted for marine use by "brand X", probably by DEFC, Diesel engine fabricators of Houston, TX. As a marine engine model E2 it would have explosion covers on the oil pan with solid clips instead of spring clips holding down the top deck covers. It would deep marine oil pan, thermocouples on the exhaust legs and awhile bunch of stuff required by the American Bureau OF Shipping. With the blowers this rig it would be rated at 1950 hp. The engine block probably is probably out of a wrecked locomotive so going by the data plate I hope DEFCO game them their version of a parts book or they may have trouble ordering parts.

El sonido del 16-645 al igual que el sonido de fondo del Detroit es música para los oidos.

I can't help but reflect on the simple idea of a cylinder drain: During the 2nd World War some tanks used rotary aircraft engines as power plants. Before starting this required the spark-plug on the bottom most (6 o'clock position) cylinder to be removed, and the piston rotated to Top-Dead-Center (funny, as the cylinder is upsidedown :-), to blow out the oil that had drained into it. If this was not done, it could write-off the crank-shaft due to hydraulic-lock in that cylinder! A not uncommon problem with un-trained drivers getting army surplus machines after the war. Thank you for posting.

When I was a green deckhand, I forgot to CLOSE the snifter valves before I fired up the engine on a 20cyl EMD. You had to have been there, it was like the gates of hell opened up for a few seconds before I got it shut down. Fella will only do that once. -Veteran '66-68

You know its a Large diesel when the engine to start it is bigger than most lorry engines...Thanks for the video/digital recording... :-)

Hi I like all your videos great job does stationary EMD 645 have low idle feature at 255 RPM it sounds like it started in high idle 318 RPM

Awesome! It's got twin "superchargers", too.

THIS ENGINE SOUNDS TUFF.

When you reved it up it sounded exactly like the EMD F-Units.

muito incrível!

Had these on the Amy c McAllister and cape cod Moran boat I worked on. I was always wiping oil from those valve covers

Turbo charged love it. LST 529-1123 class. VietNam good memories.

Great sounding video, it's always interesting to see these engines in non locomotive applications. The model number has me really confused though since, the 645E was the rootes blown engine and the 645E3 was the clutched turbo version. The plate on the engine shows E3 but the video clearly shows a pair of blowers attached to the front end, along with the nice smooth humming whir they make. Is it an E3 block that's been refurbished to with the turbo removed so it fits E specs and installed in an engine change out?

21 months on US Navy Tug YTB-820 1992/93. She’s still serving down in Guantanamo Bay

Definitivamente Detroit Diesel es N 1 en el mundo 🔝

Great Machine 👍👍👍

The ole reliable EMD 645 it's a shame they don't make the 645 anymore it was one of my favorite of the old GM built EMD engines I use to work where the had an EMD powered emergency generator set

Classic EMD sounds

Do u work on the boat ? Would love to see something like this

Always been curious about this.....how frequently did you have to change the oil and filters, and what kind of oil does it take ( weight and brand ).

Sounds quieter/better than the little auxiliary engines

Clockwork. Awesome.

I worked on offshore rig having 345 emd same engine in transocean shelf drilling and fd9

I see why many have t handles welded on. It’s much faster than that pin wrench. But this setup looks much cleaner.

All the years I worked on a major railroad I never saw shop mechanics use the EMD tool to open and close the cylinder flashcocks, they just used channel locks. I reckon marine engineers have more personal interest in maintaining the machinery.

Nice

What a monster....

FL92002...... GREAT Video... thanks for filming and posting it. Love the 2 cycle GM Diesel running in the background as well (6-71 running the air-compressor?). I do have something to point out or question, depending on how it's taken I guess. "IF" as you state, the tug was in fact built in 1960, when was this naturally aspirated 645 installed? The 645 was still on the drawing boards at the time and did not even go into production and minimal sales until 1965... and not fully available until 1966 for the most part... especially the marine versions, though EMD did field a single SD40 locomotive in 1964 for testing purposes. Also, this engine is, as I first pointed out.. Naturally Aspirated (Roots Blowers) and is therefore Not a 645 E3.... but would be an "E". E3 is the designation for Turbocharged versions, which this one... is clearly Not. It may well have been an E3 version originally, but somewhere along the way... it was converted back to a naturally aspirated engine... or, de-rated... which was common practice for the Railroads to do so, rather than paying $22,000. per Turbo for rebuilding... as they had a lot of problems originally with the Overrunning clutches disintegrating (especially on the 16 & 20 cyl. versions) until EMD went to ceramic materials in the clutches.... so, the railroads would typically just revert back to natural aspiration until EMD figured things out. My guess is that this engine was originally a railroad application, especially with the "E3" designation which for the Railroads was applicable, and as a 16 - 645 E3 would have been rated at 3,000 hp originally - which meant it was Turbocharged.... and first introduced in 1965 to the railroads. The 16-645 E was introduced in 1966 and was Roots Blown (naturally aspirated), like this one in your video and was rated at 2,000 hp..... which was the far more common setup (in hp ratings) for marine applications in that time period, especially for tugs, and other vessels of that size. Anyway.... Thanks again for the great video.

Sounds alot like a naturally asperated 567 spinning a DC generator in an old school EMD locomotive when you wind that 645 up.

Its a sad day for those that revered the diesel engine and especially the two stroke Detroit Diesel of the past. Why don't they make them anymore? I missed the sound of the 6V 53 GM fitted to the Timberjack 550 skidders 'barking' in the dense rainforest of Guyana. Does anyone remember those flambouy red machines with the Gearmatic-190 winches?

the fishing boat I worked on had a 1942 atlas imperial 6cyl and we had to blow it down every morning. sometimes we would have to fill up the air tanks twice to get her to start when it was cold. another boat I worked on had an enterprise 6cyl.

Wish I could put that in my pickup! Errr, my pickup could just about go in that!

How big is the boat this powers?

Are these straight-through cooled or do they have heat exchangers?

Súper máquina

Your average car has a hood and valve covers under the hood... this particular engine has an entire room and a hood for valve covers. I wonder what those knobs were that he was turning compression release?