I spoke with him on the phone for a while (I should have updated the thread after that call) and this is the list of symptoms and possible answers:
This is a CRD that I worked on last April, and has driven about 6k miles since then. The repair work was to recover from a bad timing job by someone else and assist in actually getting the engine to start, he proceeded to finish the rebuild after that point. It has also (unrelated to my work) suffered a turbo failure and the replacements (yes, plural) are a cautionary tale about why you should only ever buy genuine Garrett. Rebuilds or Chinese knock-offs just aren't worth the "savings" when all is said and done.
So the turbo smoking is most likely due to it failing out again, being a poor quality Chinese cartridge. Discount that symptom, he will be planning on the GDE turbo to resolve that system once and for all.
The water level is normal and the water is clean. The system was not "smelling hot" when he was on the side of the road, so the engine had not overheated. The oil level is normal and does not have any signs of contamination.
The current symptoms are strongly related to air in fuel, and a highly suspect tankful that was put in about 40 miles prior to the engine stalling the first time. The filter was drained, and what came out initially didn't smell at all like diesel fuel - which suggests a big slug of water (or a tankful!) got into the system. As we all know, water doesn't burn real well.
He had already unhooked the #1 injector line, so the fuel rail now also has an air bubble to deal with as well. The next step he will be trying is to remove the fuel rail itself and drain it, replace the fuel filter with a fresh one pre-filled with Power Service, and connect the filter's inlet side to a jug of *clean* fresh diesel. Tighten everything except the #4 injector line at the rail and crank the engine until fuel spits from that nut... Then lock it down and try starting.
At this point with fresh fuel and power service, the engine SHOULD start with a minimum of fuss. Then he has the task of draining the fuel tank of whatever is in it (of course it is a full tank, thanks Murphy) and refilling that with fresh diesel too.
The temp gauge issue is most likely a computer glitch or a buggy sensor, although he did get a new sensor when he replaced the thermostat last year. That doesn't mean that the Chinese sensor is any good however, but I do not believe that the water system is damaged in any way.
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