How timely. Just this weekend that priming buib was a lifesaver. My wife and I headed out the slip on our club cruise and within 10 minutes the engine quit. The air was light, but with the jib out she was able to maintain way while I figured out what happened. I have the same Racor on a 3GMF22 Yanmar. There turned out to be over a quart of water in the fuel tank. The only way I could figure out how to get that much volume out was by having that bulb ( and a large jug on board). I pumped that bulb until all the water and some fuel came out that was obviously contaminated with algae and the filter clogged where I couldn't squeeze that bulb any longer. After removing the filter element I continued to squeeze the bulb until the fuel ran clean again (another quart). After replacing with a new element and changing the little secondary filter on the engine (which was completely full of water), I opened the bleed screw on the injector pump. Again using the bulb it pushed the contents of the line easily and refilled both filter casings. I shut off the raw water seacock, opened the decompression levers and cranked for 30 seconds. Then I closed the levers and cranked for 10 seconds and it started right up again. Reopening the seacock and we were good to go. No more water appeared in the separator so I must have gotten it all.
My thought is that the gasket on my fuel tank filler has gone bad and with a heavy rainstorm recently, water got in my fuel tank. The algae must have been right at the water/fuel interface, and luckily I sucked it out before it dispersed throughout the fuel. My vacuum gauge (also recommended) stayed low for the trip home.
I recommend keeping that bulb. Just get a longer piece of hose and make a loop in it to relieve the bend you have currently. In a stressfull situation, it makes it easy to deal with the problem.
