Loose Bolt While Removing Passenger Front Seat

[Lester]

Hi All,

I am trying to remove my passenger front seat for 2 reasons. First is to clean up under the seat and second, I want to remove the backrest cover to fix a supposedly unhooked padding wire.
I was just getting started when a problem happened (sigh)...

There are four 10mm triple square bolts holding the front seat.

10mm triple square

Starting from the back, I have successfully removed the one on the right. It has thread locker so it was very tight.
I could make a few turns loosening the left bolt but it suddenly got very tight. At this point, I felt that there was a problem. I switched to a breaker bar and after turning, it seems like the bolt snapped. Now, I cannot tighten or loosen it. It will just keep on spinning.

Can't tighten or loosen, just spins but won't come off.

I don't think there is a nut holding it underneath so I'm not sure what is. I used a flat screwdriver to pry it upwards and at the same time loosen it but it does not work. Anyone had the same experience removing front seat bolts. Any tricks or suggestions that I can try? Thank you.

[Lester]

I looked at the Polo floor assembly and I think I now know what happened.
The triple square bolt goes to a welded nut in the seat support where the seats are bolted.
It appears that this welded nut came off leaving me with a spinning screw. I won't be able to remove it unless I find a way to hold that nut.
Am I just so unlucky or this usually happens to Polo 9N3?

[RUM4MO]

I had no good ideas so I did not post, but yes, I did think that there must be a captive/caged nut and it is no longer captive caged - very annoying!

Actually I did not want to suggest that as sorting that out will not be easy - I'm not sure how VW make that nut captive, but if it has rusted or the exposed end of that bolt has rusted, you will probably be able to work out how it was made to be initially captive by looking under the car, although that will probably mean removing the plastic covering!

[Lester]

Hi RUM4MO,

Appreciate your response. The nut under the seat frame must be welded and it is indeed very annoying.
I don't see any rust on the car body so I think it is just weak welding.
I'll work on removing the underbody trim when it's not too cold here so I can have a look. Thanks again.

[RUM4MO]

Cold weather?

My driveway, which is just gravel/stone chippings has areas of it that are like an ice flow as it does not get much sun in winter, so freezes, thaws slightly and freezers harder - very annoying when elsewhere it looks like Spring weather!

Next year I must think about getting to covered in tarmac as that will limit the "coldness" that the surface stores!

[Lester]

Yeah, it's not fun working on cars in the winter especially when there is snow/ice.
But it's ok. Spring is just around the corner.

[Lester]

I removed the underbody trim to check if the welded nut will be exposed but unfortunately, it's not there.

underbody

I am now thinking of cutting open the carpet and cut a hole with a hole saw so I can hold the welded nut with pliers and remove the bolt. If you have a better idea than this, please let me know. Thanks.