Small engine gurus.. I need your help with this vacuum fuel pump

[NM_Shooter]

I am assisting a family friend who is a recent widow to sell off some items.  Her husband passed after a lengthy illness, so many of the tools had not been used for awhile. 

One of them is a nice Hobart 16 welder / generator.  I had to put a new battery on it, drain the fuel tank, and put in fresh fuel to get it to run.  Saturday morning it was running great. 

I went out Monday to test the low idle and throttle up under electrical load, and it was not running as great.

Today I went out to put on a new fuel filter, and today it is running very poorly.  Basically you have to have the choke pulled out to get it to run.  Again, last Saturday, this was not the case.  I did dump a bunch of carb cleaner fuel additive into the tank.  I thought that perhaps I knocked loose some gunk and the jet got clogged up.  Now I am not so sure and think it might be getting starved for fuel.

I did pull the fuel line, crank it, and some fuel did shoot out.  Not a lot. 

I removed the fuel pump from the Onan 16 motor (part number 149-2187-01, replaced by 149-1982) and the diaphrams look tired to me.  What do you think? 

I was disappointed to see that you apparently can not buy a diaphragm kit for these.  The best price on the fuel pump is $56.10 that I can find.  I don't want to squander money that this lady does not have.  However, this looks suspicious to me. 

Can you take a look and tell me what you think?  Keep in mind that it went to running great, to running poorly over a few days. 

Thanks for the help. 

Frank

[Tickhill]

It has been my experience that when a naturally aspirated engine needs the choke in operation just to run, then you have a jetting issue with the carb. This is usually do to gummed up residue in the jet/seat area. These orifices are really small and it doesn't take much to screw up the fuel/air ratio. Just a thought, good luck. Tickhill

[Windpower]

Sea Foam or straight acetone in the gas should help clean the gum out

[NM_Shooter]

Thanks to all...

I bought a new fuel pump, a carb rebuild kit, and got every thing cleaned up.  It ran like a champ and the first buyer to look took it home!