Posted: December 13 2007 at 08:42 | IP Logged

I have never heard of that happening in any kind of vehicle

here in NY there might be a chance the motor had frozen by then

but I've had car motors that were frozen, and the starters don't break off, they just kind of buzz

the sheer strength of a good tensile strength 5/16" bolt is around 3,500 psi

thats alot of torque.  Even if the starter could provide that much torque, (I don't know if they do) the starter housing wouldn't allow itself to spin very far before running into the flywheel.  Might want to check out  the teeth on the flywheel.

Anyway something doesn't sound right there

just my 2 cents