I looked at it last night. After turning the pulley and letting it snap back the cable is a bit slack and it's a bit gunky where it goes into the sheath/cable housing. Tried lubing where the cable is attached/rolls onto the pulley and also tried pulling it out a bit and cleaning/ lubing where it enters the sheath/housing, but these had no effect. I actually worked as a bike mechanic for several years and this is just like working on a derailleur or brake cable, but where everything is quite a bit harder to access. And like bike der/brake cables I know that if stuff is worn I'm only going to buy some time here, not do a total fix. So I before I pull it apart this weekend I have a few questions:

1. Is there any way it just went out of adjustment? Or does it definitely sound like it's just gunked up and hanging up, made worse by the cold weather?

2. If I DO need to adjust the cable tension, I assume I just turn that nut that the housing threads into, correct?

3. How do I pop the cable out of the pulley? Do I have to remove the other cable (throttle cable?) first? Or should it slide out the back side (toward the middle of the car)?

4. And finally am I damaging anything by driving it to the shop as long as I drive slow and keep the RPMs down? I already had an appointment next week to get new shocks/struts and sway bars installed. Thanks for any input.