engine locked up

I think all of that is just so the "eyebrow plate" will slide past the gear train. Pressure in the common rail is maintained by the fuel quantity valve and the pressure relief valve. Fuel pumps used to have to match the pump compression stroke with the injector squirt. The whole point of the common rail was to eliminate the need to time the two events.

Here's a video explaining it.

 

They have a big primer tank full of fuel, just for the job. Hooks up to a fitting on fuel pump. Apparently they didn’t have the tool. A few pumps, primes it, fires right up.

 

Exactly. If the engine is spinning, then it's oiling. Common practice after rebuilding an engine to disable it's ability to start, and crank on it multiple times over the course of a few minutes to get everything oiled before you fire it for the first time.

Same. Not even on a 12 valve. Put in new element, and there's a plunger on the lift pump. Pump it until it's firm. Done.

 

This poor guy is getting hosed.

 

It has a manual pump. Book says to pump it 250 times. Lol. Most shops have the canister, hooks to a fitting on the Detroit fuel pump on the new engines.

 

What city are you near?

 

You can buy the fitting that connects to the priming port on Amazon. That plus a cheap electric fuel pump and there's no reason for any shop to ever need to resort to ether. I know from experience that the hand pump on a DD15 can go bad and become useless. Seals go bad maybe. But priming through the priming port has always worked for me.