I purchased a 240D about two weeks ago with 143k. Ran good. Drove it about 300 miles. I parked it one night and the next morning it refused to start. I know little about diesels. The glowplug indicator is working. Car cranks. It was so sudden, I am almost thinking that something let go with the shutoff value in the injector pump when I last shut the car down, because there was no indication of a problem the last time it ran. The owners manual said how to bleed the air from the fuel lines so I thought I would try that. It didn't help, but what I noticed was that a braided fuel line, connected to a small clean inline filter, spurted a little fuel out when I used the hand pump to bleed the system. Is that small hole enough to stop the car from running, especially when I think it only leaks when under the pressure of the hand pump? I was thinking if the injector pump is sucking gas all the way from the tank that even with a small hole in the line the pump would suck air through the braided hose before being able to pull fuel all the way from the tank. With that in mind I try using a piece of duct tape, wrapped tightly around the hose as a temporary aid to stop air from being sucked in, if in fact there is negative pressure at that point in the fuel system: Still no start. I would fix the braided line but it is crimped into/connects to, a metal flange on a metal line and I haven't quite figured out how to connect a new piece of hose to it yet.

*What components are between the injector and the fuel tank to aid in fuel delivery? Is there a pump that pushes the fuel to the injector pump or does the injector pump pull the fuel all the way from the tank by itself?
*Is there a way to test for fuel delivery at the injector? If I disconnect the line at one of the injectors, and crank the engine, should the fuel shoot put or dribble out?
*Is there a starter fluid counter part in the diesel world that I could shoot into the intake, so I could al least confirm that it is a fuel problem?

Thanks