Can't build fuel pressure on 941B

First off, Happy New Year!! So the other day I went down to continue pushing brush with the 941B (80H6907) and could not get it started. It has been sitting for a couple of weeks and we've had some cold nights (teens/20's) so I thought maybe the glo-plugs needed a bit more time to warm. The machine will crank and I get a little exhaust coming out the pipe but noticed the fuel pressure was in the red/green area of the gauge. In the past (after running it out of fuel once and changing the fuel filter) it wouldn't start until I bled the line and built up pressure into the "green" with the primer pump on top of the filter. I tried this same method of bleeding and priming and could not get the pressure beyond the red/green and the primer pump didn't seem to have much resistance as it did when I've done this in the past. Thinking maybe there was some water in the filter that froze up I put a new filter on, bled the line but still not sufficient pressure. Pulled the primer plunger to see if anything noticeable was wrong, seemed to "sputter" when I pumped the plunger. Put the plunger back on and kept pumping, and bleeding the line. Would seem after a few pumps I'd crack the bleeder valve and get some air, did that a bunch of times (about 2 gals of fuel in the catch can). So I'm kind of stumped. Could the primer plunger be bad (the rubber collar did come off, cracked I'm sure from age)? Is there somewhere else I should be looking to see where air is getting into the system.



Also, pulled the batteries and charged them since I'd been cranking it so much.

Can't build fuel pressure on 941B