Yikes! That's awful. I have an 07 too, and that makes me nervous. How many miles do you have on it? I'm not sure what a crank shaft is (although I know I'll probably get an education on it by saying that), but how could it break?

I'm Fairly sure that the Crank shaft would be made from a solid piece, but as SPDinNY suggested, its probably a manufacturing flaw, more precisely a casting flaw.
Casting is the process of pouring molten metal into the rough shape of what you want to make. Sometimes if the molten metal is not poured properly or is too hot (and the metal boils or burns (YES, its possible for a foundry to burn the steel)), gas can get trapped inside the molten metal and as the metal solidifies, these air pockets remain, weakening the strength of the metal.
Another thing that sometimes happens is that Cracks form (again usually from problems in the casting or cooling process) these cracks then build up stresses and as forces are applied and removed from the crank, just like a paper clip that's bent back and forth repeatedly, they eventually break.
Interestingly, if you know the size of the crack and the forces applied, you can actually calculate how many times you can 'bend' it before it breaks and thats why something breaks 3 days after your warranty expires... it's calculated to. Increasing any of these two (force or crack size) leads to a part with a shorter life and since you weren't abusing your engine with lots of forces, you most definitely had an abnormally large "Crack" in your crankshaft.
To solve this problem, aircraft parts are heavily x-rayed and DPT'd (Die Penetrant tested) to show these cracks so they can then be fixed and you get reliable jet engines. Using these tests in something less critical like a car engine would make your car about 300x more expensive.

Holly, I don't think you need to worry, manufacturing flaws like this are statiscally rare.

By the way, Nice to see you back Mark!!

-- Edited by Venno at 19:04, 2008-10-27

-- Edited by Venno at 19:06, 2008-10-27

-- Edited by Venno at 19:12, 2008-10-27

oh and Pepper, your 07 is a different motor since yours is a cabrio.

Getting a new car after 5 years. YAY!

-- Edited by PepperWhiteR56 on Saturday 7th of July 2012 01:40:22 AM