606 died and won't restart

[spark3542]

I recently purchased a 97 E300D and did some maintenance to it last night. My manual hasn't arrived in the mail yet, but I wanted to change the fuel filters. I filled the new spin-on with ATF, and also filled the little chamber of the cartridge as well (withnew cartridge). Since it doesn't have a primer, I decided to start it then keep my foot in the throttle to get past any air I introduced. It coughed and stumbled for about a minute, then smoothed out just like I thought. I ran it for at least 5 minutes after that. I assumed I was successful.

About an hour or two later I went to take a trip. It started fine. I left my driveway and about 1/2 mile down the road the tach drifted down to zero and I coasted to the side of the road. No restart. A little bit of catching while cranking, but not nearly enough to light off.

I took the cartridge filter out and found the chamber to be empty. I'm assuming that, just like my 83, the cartridge is primary and spin-on is secondary, so I'm assuming that if the primary is starved, the problem is upstream.

Towed it home. Took the 83 to work today, but I'd like some advice on where to start tonight when I get home. I feel blind without the manual yet.

Is this related to my changing the fuel filters, or is it coincidence that something upstream failed at the same time as I was doing my filter change?

I've put 1200 trouble-free miles on it in the last two weeks. 163K on the odometer.