possible electrical issue...control?

I need some help with the pictured control. What do the levers control? I assume the bigger lever controls forward, nuetral, and reverse but what does the small lever control? I recently got the boat and am just now going through it. I found the bigger lever only moves from the up position to the rear position, then it can be moved back to the up position but will not move forward. I'm also getting power to the solenoid but no power when turning the key so i think i may have ignition cylinder problems. Motor turns over when i jump the solenoid with a screwdriver. Any info on control operation or other troubleshooting appreciated!

Bigger lever back...


Bigger lever as far forward as it will go...


Smaller lever, what does this do???

Re: possible electrical issue...control?

First - NEVER try and move the big (throttle/shift) lever UNLESS the engine is running. If you drive a stick shift car you probably learned long ago that without the engine running, sometimes the gear you want can't be engaged because the gears don't mesh. Same principle here. Yes - moving the lever up selects forward. The farther you push it the motor speeds up and so does the boat. The middle position is neutral. It must be in that position to start the engine. Pushing the lever down selects reverse. The lever on top is called a fast idle lever. You raise that lever about half way when doing a cold start or to clear a flooded engine. It allows you the engine to run at a slightly faster than idle speed for warm up. The knob in front of the control is a throttle friction adjustment. It adjusts the amount of tension on the big lever.

Re: possible electrical issue...control?

You also need to take a boating course

Re: possible electrical issue...control?

I had the basics correct just wasn't 100% sure about the small lever. Thanks for that info. The reason i wanted to make sure i was correct is the previous owner is the one who moved the lever and i'm worried there might be damage to the lower unit. He told me the motor had to be in forward to lift the motor for travel and started moving the lever. This does not have power tilt/trim so having the motor in "forward" is irrelevant. I lifted the motor and flipped them tabs to hold it up but it was after he was moving the shifter. I got it for next to nothing so i still purchased it. What would most likely be damaged from him messing with the shifter?

Re: possible electrical issue...control?

Probably no damage to the lower unit but control box damage or stretched shift cable is a possibility. You can move the lever with the engine off but someone needs to turn the prop by hand until it clicks into gear.

Re: possible electrical issue...control?

Thanks, i'll get my electrical issue figured out, get it running, then see what if any damage is present.

Re: possible electrical issue...control?

Previous owner did damage the control, if anyone has parts let me know and i'll post pic of what i need. I see why solenoid didn't get power to it...the control was not in nuetral.