Possible pump motor bearing failure?

[mas985]

Would the diffuser O ring cause this issue? How about the diffuser itself?

I doubt it unless the diffuser was spinning inside the housing but you would have seen signs of that with the old diffuser.

The o ring between the two halves (exterior that the 6 bolts snug up), am I correct in that, that is pressure side and if an issue that would leak water...

Yes, any leaks on the pressure side would be squirting water.


Originally, you had posted this:

It is a hayward tristar and I noticed the white impeller ring (looks like a white bearing race) has numerous etchings as well as the neck of the impeller that it slides over....)

If the the impeller ring is not seated well or the wet end is damaged in some way, it may be possible that there is a periodic loss in pressure due to recirculation losses but this is just speculation at this point.

How badly damaged were the impeller ring and impeller and did you inspect the wet end housing for any cracks?

Also, is the filter filling up with air and do you see any air coming out of the pool returns?