My wife bought a 1988 Jeep Cherokee from the widow of the previous owner, it's had starting difficulties since she's owned it. There are some extra lights installed that may be presenting extra battery drain, I haven't been able to trace all of them to remove them. The battery is brand new, installed less than a week ago. When we try to start it, interior lights come on and we get a single click. Looking at the starter relay, it appears it must have been bypassed in some manner, as nothing is connected to the posts for the ignition and solenoid, and I can't find the wires that should connect to those. I DO have a green wire with the end stripped, no connector, loose, which traces back to a cannister or module mounted on the passenger side fender, close to the battery. I'm having trouble attaching images, so here are links to what I've got.

The unknown wire: https://xring.com/wp-content/uploads...tifiedWire.png Someone on another site has claimed that it appears to be coming from the starter, but I think he has it misidentified, as the starter is underneath the vehicle. I just need to figure out where it's supposed to terminate.
Starter relay (possibly the green and dark green wires that appear to be spliced are the ones supposed to go to the relay?) https://xring.com/wp-content/uploads...ay-rotated.jpg
The connection to this was unplugged, it was possibly knocked loose when the Jeep was struck by a neighbor: https://xring.com/wp-content/uploads...wn-rotated.jpg Would like to know what this is, I don't wrench on vehicles often, which is why it's taken me a while to start on this project.

ETA: 4.0, 4WD

 

Looks like someone got creative. This thread has a few pictures that might help.
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/ren...estion-232984/

That canister is part of the a/c btw.

 

Yeah, I probably need to replace the starter relay no matter what, since the hack who worked on it before bypassed it for some reason, but I'm concerned with what other issues I've got to deal with. I THINK the darker green cable runs to the solenoid, while the lighter green cable spliced with it runs back to the ignition, and that they're spliced to bypass the starter relay. I'll need new spade connectors to put them on a new starter relay, if I replace that. I'm worried that if I have to replace the starter itself, I'm going to have to figure out how to tow it to flatter ground to work on, it's currently sideways where two slopes meet (bottom of my driveway, which meets a road that is sloping downhill as well), thanks to a neighbor running into it last week. He hit the tire, so no evident damage other than possibly the battery box, but I need to get it running so his insurance company can determine if there's any suspension damage (minor fender cover damage, it cracked a few places, but this is our bad weather emergency vehicle). I've been watching videos about testing the CPS and NSS, so may have to attempt those as well. Oh, it tore the valve stem, flattening the tire, but NTB fixed that for free.

 

Here's a diagram of the relay. Both the Starter Solenoid Terminal and Ignition Terminal are Green. The Ignition term comes from your Ignition switch. When you turn the key to START, you should get 12v. With the Ground Terminal properly grounded, the relay should click. This should send 12 v to the Starter Solenoid terminal. I'll get a pic of my '88 and post later.


Added pic:

 

Yep, one of my problems is that the terminals for ignition and solenoid are disconnected and it appears the wires have been spliced together, bypassing the starter relay (which still has the orange wire for the fuel pump). Plus I'm not sure where my "extra" green wire which seems to come from the device mounted on the fender is supposed to be connected. It has a lot of extra length that has been zip-tied out of the way, making it more difficult to figure out where it's supposed to go (outlined in purple).

 

Can you get a picture of that from a different angle? What are the relays on the fender for?

Here's a wiring diagram for the starter circuit. I've also added a pic of the "relay center" that has the starter relay as well as the AC clutch, B+ latch, O2 heater and Fuel pump. The diagnostic connectors are under the yellow caps. Perhaps the bracket was removed and everything relocated by the PO?

 

 

The starter relay is under all of those hoses and wires, not visible from this angle.

Better picture of the starter relay, showing the two empty posts:

 

Well, my guess is the 2 blue relays are for your headlights. There's a mod where you power the headlights directly from the battery through a pair of relays (high and low beam) and trigger the relays from the original harness.

It looks like the factory relay center bracket is gone so the PO rerouted everything. You have a white rectangular box near the firewall that looks like an inline fuse. Where does that go?

I have no idea what that cylindrical gizmo is. Perhaps a different type of starter relay? You'll just need to follow the wiring.

As for the 2 pins on the starter relay, you could use a jumper and put 12v to the terminal on the bottom. You should hear the relay click. If yours is an Auto, make sure you're in park since the ground goes through the Neutral safety switch (or you can just ground it nearby). You should try cleaning the contacts first.