Pro XS lost prime

Never had this happen before. Thoughts? Spent a lot of time idling from spot to spot today. Would stop and fish a bit then crank up motor idle 5-10 mins to another part of the cove. Did this about 4 times today in the same cove. As I was heading out to cross lake again outboard died while at idle. Crank and run for a second then die. Then wouldn't start. First thought was out of gas since the gauge on my Phoenix showed E but usually thats a 10 gallon reserve. Popped the back lid and primer bulb was soft. After about 20-30 pumps on the bulb it got stiff and motor started right up and ran great rest of the day. Never had an outboard lose prime like that before. Any ideas?

Low fuel level, takes more vacuum to lift the fuel, driving around at idle, 2 strokes do not like to idle for extended periods. Seeing all kinds of weird stuff with guys idling around looking at their SI DI units.

My Skeeter was doing the same thing and I took it to Rockwall Marine and they found that the fuel line inside of the tank had a small split at the top. They fixed it and never had another problem

Thanks for the replies. I'll check the fuel lines. Did your primer bulb ever get hard with a split in the line? Seems like you should be able to squeeze a little harder to force gas out of the split and compress the bulb again.

I was thinking that idling for an extended period was the culprit. Never had it happen before but I usually have more fuel in the tank. Was trying to run the rest of the gas I put in back in December out. I treat with stabil but like to run as much old gas out before putting fresh in. Don't know if that matters or not since it's treated but old habits are hard to break. I see a smartcraft monitor in my near future with this squirrely fuel gauge on the Phoenix.

I am encountering an issue very similar, motor will run fine then seem like its missing, only at lower speeds or idle it does it, on plane running not an issue, may have to check things out for mine as well.