Primer Bulb Bad or Something Else?

[DiamondDave952]

I squeezed my primer bulb the other day and noticed it was soft and not firm like it was in the past. I squeezed it multiple times and even squeezed it with the primer bulb arrow pointing up but couldn't get the bulb firm. Curiously, I started the motor and it worked fine and let it idle for a few minutes. I am wondering if I have a bad primer bulb, but could it be something else? The motor is a 2021 Yamaha 115 LB with 52 hours on it. Seems strange that a primer bulb would need to be replaced in 5 years. Thanks.

 

[Potomacbassin’]

One of the check valves in your priming bulb sounds like it's failed or stuck. First/easiest step is to pull the bulb and test it. Or just replace it.

What isn't happening is you are not continuing to push fuel into your outboard or else it would be flooding out somewhere and you'd see it or smell it. So it either is with the bulb itself or something upstream of it such as your fuel water separator, fuel line or tank.

But start with the low-hanging fruit.