My understanding is that the pump housing should be filled with diesel
at all times. Empty housing indicates a problem e.g.
1/ Broken vane pump
2/ air leak in fuel lines from tank.

A small leak in 2/ sometimes shows as hard starting/long cranking
when the pump and fuel system have to be refilled by the vane pump
before the engine will fire.

Best,
Martin

   From:        Maxim.Nicolescu@fortum.com
   Date:        Wed, 18 Sep 2002 10:09:05 +0300
   Content-Type: text/plain
   X-Envelope-To: <jag@cs.ualberta.ca> (uid 60001)
   X-Orcpt: rfc822;jag@cs.ualberta.ca

   Hello,

   What is the normal fuel level inside the injection pump, and how it can be
   checked?
   Should be the plunger immersed in the fuel, when opening the bleed blot on
   the plunger barrel (between the 4 delivery valves)?

   Rgds, Max