I've had limited experience and mixed luck with lubricating modern cables, but find that some type of silicone works best on the modern lined cables and 3in1, Triflo or LPs works on ancient technology non-lined cables. I just replaced the throttle cable on my diesel LR after lubing it a few times; the inner cable had worn through the (teflon?) liner and was metal on metal, dragging.
As noted, don't get the silicon into the intake. From what I was told once by an engineer buddy, it is the silicone combustion by products that can contaminate the O2 sensors.