[mr48chev]

It's wasted time to crank a diesel that you have drained the fuel from and expect it to crank without first priming it and bleeding the lines to the injectors.

It isn't that hard to prime it as there should be a primer pump on the engine somewhere with a lever that you can work with your hand. It looks like a mechanical fuel pump for gas but has a lever on it to work manually.

If you drain the tank and change the filters pour clean diesel in the filters before installing them so you don't have to pump them clear full too.

Then loosen the fitting on one of the injector lines at the injector and work the pump until you get fuel up to it without air and tighten it back up and go to the next. Then it should fire up when you go to start it. I spent three years as the mechanic on a dairy farm and had one farm worker who always thought he was "too busy" to go to the fuel tank and fill one particular tractor we had on the dairy.