I was recently replacing the knock sensors on my 5vz-fe. The last part of putting everything together was re-attaching the throttle cable and and the throttle valve cable/transmission kickdown cable. normally this is not an issue, but for some reason the kickdown cable seemed very tight. I eventually got everything together, but after pressing the accelerator pedal once the kickdown cable did not retract. Please see the two attached pictures. I have not been able to find anything in the FSM referencing the throttle valve cable or transmission kickdown cable, are they referenced some other way? How do I adjust the tension on this cable so that it will retract?

Thanks for your input.

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That's a first.

Remove the cap on the end and see if something got stuck in the housing. Worst case scenario you unclip both ends of the cable and from the firewall and blast the housing out with brake cleaner or carb cleaner, then feed some spray gear lube or white lithium grease in the housing and put it back on.

I had do do that on a 25 year old throttle cable that completley gummed up and would hold the throttle open (not good!).

yeah, it is a first at least for me, I've had these cables off a number of times since I've owned this rig and never had any issue, changing timing belt, changing spark plugs, replacing valve cover gaskets etc . . .

I am pretty sure that the cable that is stuck is not the one that comes through the firewall and connects to the pedal. From what I can tell this one connects to the transmission somewhere. I did spray a some silicone lube in there to try and loosen things up, but so far to no avail. I am hesitant to pour anything else down the tube that holds the cable without knowing where it goes.

for what it's worth also read through this thread Transmission kickdown cable question
but the issue does not seem to be the same. My issue is that the cable flat out won't retract.

Yeah, I know it goes to the transmission. But it seems like something is stuck in the housing and keeping it from retracting normally. Unless someone has a brilliant idea you'll have to find a way to disconnect it.

so the question is how do I disconnect the cable? The only issue that I have found that is similar is a post from someone with an LC80 over at ih8mud.
A442F Transmission Throttle cable | IH8MUD Forum

Sounds like they had to drop the transmission pan to resolve the issue.

Would it be completely unwise to take a syringe and squirt some dex III down the tube that hold the cable and hope that it frees up whatever is causing the cable to bind?

Otherwise, looks like this is where the cable hits the transmission.