OK so where have things progressed...

Well two valve handles broke off so cut the plumbing up and replaced 4 junk ball valves. While the valves were out blew out the lines not much in the way of debris...

Set the new valves... cranked it up... purred like a kitten.... for about 30 minutes..... this was a pump that had been off for 2 days COLD........

air bubbles purged in a bout 5 minutes to a nice primed clear basket side.....

I wasnt paying anyone for valves and figured it would be a great time to remove any debris in the lines... The vavles were all suction, main drain, two skims, and vacum....


So seems to me if air related I would see air... The timing would be consistent.

The problem appears directly related to how long the pump has sat to get cold...

The pump itsel has had everything on the suction side replaced, gasket on the basket lid, gasket on the coupling to the valves, oring on diffuser, diffuser, impeller, wear ring, shaft seal... basically everything except the motor....