diff --git a/mercurial/cmdutil.py b/mercurial/cmdutil.py
--- a/mercurial/cmdutil.py
+++ b/mercurial/cmdutil.py
@@ -588,8 +588,14 @@ def diffordiffstat(ui, repo, diffopts, n
         ctx1 = repo[node1]
         ctx2 = repo[node2]
         for subpath, sub in subrepo.itersubrepos(ctx1, ctx2):
-            if node2 is not None:
-                node2 = ctx2.substate[subpath][1]
+            try:
+                if node2 is not None:
+                    node2 = ctx2.substate[subpath][1]
+            except KeyError:
+                # A subrepo that existed in node1 was deleted between node1 and
+                # node2 (inclusive). Thus, ctx2's substate won't contain that
+                # subpath. The best we can do is to ignore it.
+                node2 = None
             submatch = matchmod.narrowmatcher(subpath, match)
             sub.diff(diffopts, node2, submatch, changes=changes,
                      stat=stat, fp=fp, prefix=prefix)
diff --git a/mercurial/commands.py b/mercurial/commands.py
--- a/mercurial/commands.py
+++ b/mercurial/commands.py
@@ -5157,7 +5157,8 @@ def status(ui, repo, *pats, **opts):
 
       Examples:
 
-      - show changes in the working directory relative to a changeset:
+      - show changes in the working directory relative to a
+        changeset::
 
           hg status --rev 9353
 
diff --git a/mercurial/dispatch.py b/mercurial/dispatch.py
--- a/mercurial/dispatch.py
+++ b/mercurial/dispatch.py
@@ -259,7 +259,6 @@ class cmdalias(object):
                 return 1
             self.fn = fn
             self.badalias = True
-
             return
 
         if self.definition.startswith('!'):
diff --git a/tests/test-subrepo.t b/tests/test-subrepo.t
--- a/tests/test-subrepo.t
+++ b/tests/test-subrepo.t
@@ -885,6 +885,22 @@ Test that removing .hgsub removes .hgsub
   rm2
   
   
+Test issue3153: diff -S with deleted subrepos
+
+  $ hg diff --nodates -S -c .
+  diff -r 3941e0aa5236 -r 8b31de9d13d1 .hgsub
+  --- a/.hgsub
+  +++ /dev/null
+  @@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
+  -s = s
+  -t = t
+  diff -r 3941e0aa5236 -r 8b31de9d13d1 .hgsubstate
+  --- a/.hgsubstate
+  +++ /dev/null
+  @@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
+  -fc627a69481fcbe5f1135069e8a3881c023e4cf5 s
+  -e95bcfa18a358dc4936da981ebf4147b4cad1362 t
+
 Test behavior of add for explicit path in subrepo:
   $ cd ..
   $ hg init explicit