Volvo: 1990 740 turbo wagon, turbo wagon, timing belt

Question
Hey Ray,

My engine started a small pinging sound last week.
Sounded like pre-ignition when accelerating.
Yesterday, pinging got way louder and sounds like disaster is imminent. The car is shut down/dead in the driveway. The engine only has 160k miles on it.
Please advise.

Thank You Sir,
Tony

Answer
Tony,
Shut down and dead? It will not start? Maybe the timing belt got so bad it slipped a tooth and stated to ping and now the belt is either so far out of time or maybe even broken. Could the ping have been due to overheating and run to long that now the engine is locked up? Start inspecting and see what is good and that it is in time, no leaks in the cooling system. If you are not sure where to start tow it to a good shop that KNOWS Volvo's and have them test it and give you their thoughts.