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You are loosening/slackening the cable right? Essentially the sheath needs to be moving towards the front of the car. This imparts slack to the cable. Needs to be fairly loose. Here's the pertinent FAQ section,
Don Foster] Loosen the cable to soften the shifts, and shorten (or tighten) the cable to cause the tranny to shift harder and at higher RPMs. Be sure to keep notes of which way you adjust the cable and by how much so you can restore it to original position if you're unhappy with the results. Loosening the cable means to adjust the cable housing (outer sheath) so the inner core is looser around the throttle spool. This means adjusting the housing (outer sheath) TOWARD the throttle spool. This has the effect of providing a bit more slop in the core, which is wrapped on the spool. Thus, it becomes looser. If you want to tighten the cable, adjust the cable housing so it backs away from the throttle spool, effectively pulling the core tighter. Normally you adjust in turns or flats. A flat is one flat on the hex head where you fit the wrench, six per full turn. [Ernest Smith] I had a hard time hearing the pawl come to rest ...so, I took pressure off the cable 3 flats at a time (i.e., by bringing the sheath of the cable closer to the end of the cable itself.) After I loosened the two 13mm nuts, I then snugged them back - held the metal portion on the right side of the cable steady with some pliers while I backed off on the right nut, then tightened the left. I did a total of 8 flats, 3,3, then 2 (testing in between) ..and it is pretty close - works much, much better.
No More Adjustment Length Left? [Inquiry] At the maximum extension of my kickdown cable, the car's not shifting as soon as it should. What can I do, now that I've run out of adjustment length?
[Response: Justin] Check to see if the cable sheath has come out of the crimped metal part at the end. On my car, the sheath pulled out of the metal ferrule at the end of the cable. This had the effect of shortening the kickdown cable by about 2 inches and the car would not shift correctly no matter how far I adjusted it. While you can try re-crimping it, the solution is likely to be a new cable.
Failure to Adjust Properly. [Dave Stevens] If you cannot get the cable adjusted to hear the pawl thunk, there are a few possibilities. If the cable is starting to wear, it may not be sliding freely enough to snap back quickly with enough force to make the clunk -you could try working some lubricant down into the cable if that's the case. Also, if the cable is not the original kickdown cable it may not have been installed properly. The cable sheath must be properly seated all the way down into its recess (that's pretty hard to miss, but someone could theoretically have later reefed on the cable enough to move it). The cable clamp (copper ferrule) may well be mis-located on the cable. When a replacement kickdown cable is installed the copper ferrule is loose and is clamped in place by the installer, preferably AFTER proper kickdown adjustment. If not, it may have been clamped too close to the cable end. In that case it's unlikely you'll be able to easily free it and you may have to resort to removing it by carefully nipping the clamp away without damaging the cable strands. The cable clamp is used to prevent the cable from slipping too far down into the tranny and is also used as a crude adjustment reference point. Other than that it's not really needed. A small blob of something like JB-Weld would probably do just fine as a replacement if you have to remove the original clamp. Another possibility is that there is gunk in the bottom of the kickdown cam chamber preventing the pawl from striking back against metal. If that's the case then a tranny fluid flush may be in order and the cable clamp should be used as the adjustment reference with the above measurements.
Failure Modes of Kickdown Cable. [Chris Mooney] The kickdown cable can fail due to corrosion or a break in the sheath at either end (usually due to leaning on it while working on the engine from above). Dirt, dust, grime, sludge, wearing through and fraying, all take their toll and cause extra resistance. The cable is retracted by a fairly weak spring to prevent excessive resistance at the accelerator pedal - the downside is that a bit of dirt or a cable housing that's worn through and collapsing on itself will keep the cable from retracting smoothly. Replacing it is the only sure fix. But try unhooking it and pouring some ATF or synthetic engine oil down the cable into the cable housing, while you work it back and forth. It'll help a bit. Add this to your regular lubrication routine to keep things loose.
[Gary Horneck] I took the cable end off the throttle linkage and taped a little foil collar/funnel on the end. This way I was able to hold the cable upright and fill the funnel with tranny fluid. I filled the little funnel several times over a 2 hour period. All that fluid went down the sheath and has freed up the cable.
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