Pump Sucking Air; Won't Prime - Needed to be primed

[Poconos]

Most likely you have an air leak on the suction side. Doesn't take much of a leak to not prime and if totally dry they may not prime either. I'm assuming this is an inground pool and the pump is above the pools water level. The crack at the valve wouldn't prevent priming as that's on the pressure side. Most likely place for an air leak is the pump basket lid. Make sure it's clean and no cracks or irregularities to prevent good seating. Also try adding a bucket of water right into the basket as suggested to 'start' the flow. If you have a total blockage on the pressure side, after the pump, there may be enough back pressure to prevent priming also but this is a long shot. If you throw your valve to 'waste' that is a direct path from the pump to the waste line bypassing the filter so you may try that position and see if it will prime.
Al

[fog80]

I had air getting in where the pvc goes into the hayward superpump, some caulking fixed that right up. Listen real close for any "hissing" that was what gave it away for me.

[Poconos]

Glad it was something simple. I'm surprised that you could hear any hissing with the pump running but I guess you have good selective ears, like a dogs sense of smell.
Al

[elise1]

Thank you for all of your advice. After scouring the Internet for hours, I finally just went out there and did some investigative work. After taking the basket from the pump and watching the water flow, it was obvious I was sucking air because of the lack of water in the actual pump basket.( I knew it wasn't o- ring or lid problems as the pump is only a few weeks old) So I narrowed it down to either my line was blocked with debris or I had a leak. No leak could be found so I literally took my plunger to my skimmer and sure enough I had acorns trapped in my line. I few minutes of plunging and rinsing my filter out fixed it. It's working beautifully now.

[wsommariva]

That's great. Sometime it's just common sence.