Diesel won't suck fuel

[emiracleworker1]

I've got an 81 rabbit diesel and a true 65K on it. I've had it parked a couple years and finally have the time to play with it a little. I can get it started if I fill the injector pump with diesel. It'll run and even rev up pretty high until it burns that fuel. Then it'll just sit there and idle really poorly or die. Looked like it wasn't pulling fuel, so moved the clear fuel line from the filter to a glass jar filled with diesel... it won't pull anything from that jar. I haven't bled the injectors yet because I figure if it'll run fine when I fill the pump, it wouldn't be an air bubble preventing fuel from getting to the injectors. Any thoughts or am I wrong about bleeding? Thanks in advance!