I don't believe this but I finally fixed the problem and just finished tuning. Gears shift quick and smooth. I am not sure if it was the same problem as what you discribed Andy K but sounds very simular

I never noticed before but the cable wraps around a piece of plastic before being secured by a nut, the cable had slipped off and that was waht was causing the high tension. Such a small thing causing so much trouble

I can't believe you posted that Andy K just as I noticed the problem too

Not sure what damage I may have done shifting gears while the cable was wraped around a pivot point but I probably need some new limit screws, I wore the heads abit doing so much adjusting and probably need some new cable as it is beginning to fray now. Apart from that all is fine now and I am really happy.

Thanks for all the help people.

Oh, and I was following all the step by steps in earlier google searches and following the adice in online videos correctly but no amount of adjusting was going to make that mess run smooth.

At least I learned a lot about how to adjust a front derailleurs today, knew it couldn't have been so complexed. Thanks again all