I am working on a 240D 4 Speed that I bought at a towing auction.
It was a non-running impound which had a state inspection sticker that was two months old, meaning it was definitely running and driving two months ago.

The car had a new primary fuel filter but was missing the clear plastic in line filter when I got it.
I just put a plastic filter on and put the fuel feed line into a gallon container of diesel in the engine bay (the fuel tank has a Mercedes locking gas cap for which I have no key).

Next, I tried operating the primer pump, it was the old plastic kind and leaked everywhere.
I then put a black Bosch new style primer on the lift pump and found that the lift pump leaked fuel badly from the bottom, I could not get diesel to fill the in line filter fully.

I replaced the entire lift pump and gasket with one off a running OM617.
I began to prime the system using the hand primer pump and was able to fill the clear in line filter up, I kept pumping the primer even after the filter was full since I figured the fuel system was bone dry.

I then turned the engine over (it did not start as I have no power to the glow plugs).
Then I tried pumping the hand primer some more as I noticed the in line fuel filter was empty, I could no longer get any fuel sucked into the in line fuel filter despite pumping the primer.

I cranked the engine some more and could not get fuel sucked into the filter. What gives?
Did the primer pump and lift pump fail again?
Is there some stuck valve in the fuel system or something?

I do not understand why the primer is not sucking fuel, and why the motor isn't sucking any fuel from cranking.

Fuel connections appear tight and leak free but maybe I am missing something.

Thanks in advance for any help to this situation.
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