I bought an old Michigan loader once that died on the spot over water in the fuel they had burnt out the starter trying to get her running and left it, it sat so long the tires half flat had sunk into the ground to the rims.
I had the starter repaired, hung a jerry can with fuel onto the side, aired up the tires after she fired up then obtained a travel permit and drove her home to my yard where I used it for the next 5 years to pile scrap cars and load semi trailers out with loose scrap.
Diesel engines are amazing in that they can sit idle for years without seizing up, large boats and ships having thousands of gallons of diesel laid up for years will have someone come in to polish the fuel.
In my case adding a jerry can with fresh fuel was enough to get that 4/71 Detroit diesel purring again.