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Thanks to all who responded last week, esp. Steve Ringlee and Chris Herbst. My upshift problem is solved, but not in the way I expected. Steve and Chris were right that the delayed upshift from 1 to 2 in cold weather was caused by a problem with the kickdown cable, though on close inspection at the throttle drum, the cable proved neither frayed nor out of adjustment. But the tapered plastic cone that keeps crud out of the cable-housing end was missing a chunk. I removed the cone, which promptly fell apart, shot some penetrating oil into the housing, worked the accelerator, and finished by anointing the extended cable with Syl-Glide. Shifts thereafter were smooth and timely. Gratifying, but this hardly seemed to have revealed the actual problem. Then I remembered something important--the night before the first episode of delayed shift, I'd washed the engine with a power-wand down at the carwash. That night the temperature dropped from the high 40's, and stayed below freezing all week. I now surmise that enough pressurized water had sneaked past the cracked guard-cone to settle in the opening of the cable-housing, where it later froze, restricting the cable's proper return. It stayed inside the plastic sleeve as an ice-plug, thawing as the engine warmed, evaporating or sublimating very slowly, then refreezing overnight. Warming the car 10 min. while stationary would thaw the plug, allowing it to shift at once. Saturday afternoon, as I inspected the cable, my son reported that when he had driven the car early that morning, at around 10F, it had surprisingly shifted fine. I assume enough water must finally have evaporated to prevent restriction when frozen. Hence a cautionary tale for housed engine cables and winter engine washing. Again my thanks to those who put me on the right track. I'd already flushed and filled tranny fluid by the return line method less than a year ago. But I'm glad I didn't tear into the valve body.
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