About a month ago I started experiencing a severe pinging problem on my 68 P1800S. I had also been experiencing a noticeable lack of power for awhile before the pinging problem surfaced. I played around with the timing a bit, made a few phone calls and decided to have my mechanic take a look at it. The first thing he suspected ( and the first thing he looked at) was the distributor. This was obviously a case where his experience paid off because the center shaft was worn to the point where as the RPMs increased, the dwell was thrown off, causing the pinging problem. He replaced my "original" worn distributor with a rebuilt unit from Bosch. He told me that the same rebuilt distributor from the dealer costs $38 more, because they put it in a box labeled "VOLVO". Replacing the distributor solved the pinging problem and the car now has plenty of power for steep hills and passing situations. Of course, if your engine is built to stock specifications, as mine is, you'll still experience a little pinging. This is due to the lower octane rating of today's fuels and the fact that our cars were built to run on 100 octane gas. There are several things you can do. You can use an octane booster or buy a low compression kit. You can also drive in such a way as to reduce the chances of pinging by gear selection. When your engine is "under a load" it will have a tendency to ping. This will normally happen on a steep hill or when you give the car more gas when you're in too high of a gear. Be sure to bring the RPMs up and then shift when your speed just starts to flatten out. If you back off the gas and then give it more without downshifting, you'll also increase your chances of pinging. If you have an automatic gearbox, I don't really know if the pinging is better or worse than a manual. I've never owned a Volvo with an automatic!

Notes: Distributor replacement, valve adjustment and tune-up were performed by Autotec in El Cajon (ask for Tom). Octane boosters are available at auto parts stores. Low compression kits are available from IPD in Oregon (consider that this will reduce you car's power output and gas mileage).

Until next time. Drive safely..........................................................