If you tried to start the car by towing, the timing belt could have slipped through several teeth. If the engine is idling and when you try to increase the speed, it immediately stalls or stops after a short period of operation, then most likely air has entered the fuel system. It is worth paying attention to the exhaust. In this case, it is usually white with a characteristic smell of diesel fuel. A vacuum in the fuel flow can occur due to a clogged fuel intake or fuel filter. Most often, it is the fuel filter that gets clogged, and such troubles occur mostly in winter.
Never repair fuel filters. Various "flushings", "blowings", and other supposedly restorative procedures, at best, will simply not produce an effect, and at worst, will further aggravate the situation. Fuel, passing through such a "restored" filter, not only does not receive the required cleaning, but also washes away all the dirt that has previously accumulated in the filter. This can quite quickly disable the precision mechanism of the high-pressure fuel pump.
Never install multiple fuel filters. There is no point in this multi-stage filtration from the point of view of achieving the purity of the fuel entering the engine. Additional filters are not just useless, they are harmful. They create excessive resistance, due to which the high-pressure fuel pump operates under load and fails faster. Increased resistance in the pipeline can also cause air to be sucked in. Additional filters do not help separate water from the top beer. There are special separators for this purpose. The presence of such a separator is indicated by a small plug below the filter. The accumulated moisture should be drained approximately every 3,000 km of run. The liquid should be drained until almost clean fuel flows.
Water in the fuel also causes white clouds of exhaust smoke. Some models may have an indicator on the instrument panel that will tell you that there is water in the fuel. If the indicator lights up, it is better to stop immediately, turn off the engine and drain the liquid from the separator. If necessary, you can repeat the procedure. If the indicator still does not want to go out, then the problem is probably in the electrical circuits of the water-in-fuel indicator system.
If the engine that was just running stalls, make sure there is still fuel in the tank. If there is fuel, remember if there was any sharp sound before the engine stalled. This sound is accompanied by a timing belt break. If there was a sound, it is better not to crank the engine.
Another reason for the engine stopping may be air in the fuel system. You can try to directly connect the fuel pump to any fuel container. If the engine starts working, then the cause has been found. For any problems with the fuel pump, it is best to contact specialists. If the fuel injection pump is normal, you can try to loosen the fittings on the injectors. If fuel starts to flow out from under them in a pulsating stream during attempts to start the engine, this means that faulty injectors do not provide normal fuel supply to the combustion chambers. If black smoke appears during the exhaust, this is one of the signs of a stuck needle in the injector.