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Last week my A&P had my cargo floors and passenger seatback removed so we could check MLG rigging. While everything was out I thought I would clean any debris from around the bilge pump area. I was able to get a few leaves and even a few very small pebbles that had made their way into that area and, to my surprise, a completely loose bilge pump. The sealant that secures the pump to the hull had detached from the pump body completely.

I know, many may say that it's no big deal - the pump is still gonna pump as long as the discharge hose and the electrical are connected. BUT, in addition to the fact that if the pump ends up upside down you could easily retain quite a bit of water down there, we also have to consider the fact that there are flight control cables running very near the pump.

It was an easy fix but just a word of advice to check your pump is securely attached whenever you have easy access.

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Thanks for the heads up. That’s what this forum is about.

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OH - I forgot to mention the fact that I also found the following pieces down there. Can't figure out what they are from and I sent the pic to Mandy to see if engineering has any idea about the nylon (I think?) barrels.

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I had a detached fuel pump in 2018 due to a leaking fuel tank. I guess the adhesive dissolved in the fuel

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They are the cargo floor spacers they are bonded to the bottom of the cargo floor panels to space the panels from the mounting points. If you take the cargo floor and flip them over you will see where they were bonded to at certain screw holes.

as for the nylon lock nuts no idea where those came from.

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Thanks Bret - I’ll take a look at that area. I’ve got some Click Bond arriving tomorrow so it’s perfect timing

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The maintenance manual mentions the spacers possibly coming loose. Are the spacers held in by the screws? Meaning that if the floor isn’t removed, the spacers will be intact?

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On mine they are just fastened to the floor panel with "Click Bond" adhesive.

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Does the baggage floor come off easy for inspection?

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opening the baggage floor is quite easy. The issue is you need to remove the fuel tank to get a good look at what’s down there

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I wonder if a borescope would help.

opening the baggage floor is quite easy. The issue is you need to remove the fuel tank to get a good look at what’s down there

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Too much trouble removing the fuel tank. But you would have to remove a seat back to get anywhere near the bilge pump. I am not advocating anyone remove anything just to inspect around. As I stated - mine was opened up anyway for maintenance so it was easy at the time. .

IF, IF, your cargo floor and at least one seat back are removed it is fairly easy to scooch to the back (after protecting the top of the fuel tank) of the cargo area (with your knees in the bucket of the seat) and reach aft, below the fuel tank and feel around the bilge screen for any debris. Boroscope and GoPro (better resolution) were used to record all directions underneath so we could go back and analyze the video for anything that looked suspect.