84 Johnson 15 hp outboard

by Brian Beaty
(Pavo, Georgia )

84 Johnson 15 hp outboard

Motors will not go back into low speed on handle. Was working fine, then all of a sudden it would not slow down. On closer observation to the motor, it would no longer move into reverse either. Picture shows that that mechanically there is no way of moving the black piece up to shift it into reverse or to shift it over enough to slow the high speed idle.
It seems the plate that the red arrow is pointing to will not move any further back to the left to allow for gear changes and to slow it down. It will move forward to throttle up, but not any further back.
I also see a wire wedged tightly on top of this plate(blue arrow) Is that normal or is this the source of the problem?