[DaleP321]

Hi my 60 plate insignia was towed away by a recovery company that the police had arranged as my car was illegally parked and when I went to pick it up It would not start and now that an Opel garage in Belgium has looked at it they say the crankshaft is broken I think it may have not been recovered properly and been dragged or strap was put on wrong position of the wheel for a lift. Has anybody had the crankshaft break on a similair insignia with a 2.0 ctdi. Mine has just over 100,00 miles on the clock.

 

[MikeSW17]

I can't see how a towing or lift could break a crank-shaft.
When you tried to start it, what happened? Did the engine turn over? If so, was there a horrendous noise?
Frankly I doubt the diagnosis, unless the reason you parked illegally because the engine packed up?

 

[franka]

I would say that to snap[break] a crankshaft by just moving the car is nigh on impossible to do.

Are you sure that you fully understood what the garage was saying, or did language difficulties intervene?

 

[Chess]

Very unlikely to break the crankshaft on those circumstances. It could be, however, timing belt or tensioner breakage if any of these was on the brink of collapse anyway.

 

[andy_v]

ya sure they never said crank shaft sensor?

 

[vexorg]

...

 

[Koicarpkeeper]

I snapped the crank in my full race Mini Cooper because it had been lightened to the extreme and the bearings ground to the minimum. It actually snapped when driving it and made a horrendous noise but was still driveable as long as I kept pressure lightly on the clutch because it was holding the two halves of the crank together.

Never heard of a standard modern car breaking a crank unless it has been starved of oil and has spun the bearing shells.