. He is having too much problem getting any fuel flow is why I did not think it was the relief valve. It is possible though but unlikely in his situation.

Anyways if this is his only basic problem it is not that bad. If the valves are remaining open in the lift pump there may be a visable back and forth type of surging in the clear prefilter.

Depending on just how bad those valves are I suppose. With a known good primer pump if you closed off the output hose and could not pretty much stall the primer pump it then has to be the lift pump I believe. Simple tests save money and time.