The roommate got a 98 Grand Cherokee Laredo when he ditched the Jeep that's now mine [and still running quite nicely, thanks again].

It wouldn't start today. Standard click-click-click. It gets power, so it's probably not the battery. The first suggestions were distributor/starter/whatnot....

But I noticed something much more worrisome. There's a dangling hose.

This hanging hose.

Since I know nothing about this Jeep, I have no way of knowing if this hose could cause the weird starting issue. I also have no idea where it's supposed to go.

Help?

Looks like the hose is possibly the vent hose for the front axle, hard to tell from the pic. If it is the vent hose, its supposed to be routed up in the engine bay and secured so it doesnt fall back down. It doesn't connect to anything in the engine bay.

Now that hose wouldn't be causing the no start issue though. If its going click, click, click like you say...then I would suspect a dead battery or bad ground connections. Start with checking connections first.

Check the voltage of the battery first. Should be up around 13v if it's got a good charge. Can't start diagnosing unless the battery is good.
If voltage is good then clean the ground at the battery and all the connections. Try starting, Report back

Hose looks like front diff breather. Also the battery is probably dead.

Make sure the battery is good. Clean the terminals, clamps and all of the grounds. Also, make sure the connections are clean and tight at the starter. After that, if it still just clicks, take a hammer, climb under the vehicle and tap on the starter a few times, then try to start it. You can pull the starter out, use some jumper cables and the battery and see if the starter actually works.

True, I should have said verify proper battery voltage first, then proceed with checking connections, my bad

Since it's not me, and since they think they might know [battery's being recharged now externally while this happens] that it's the starter, they're replacing the starter.

Where should that hose be routed, if it's the breather hose? Where should it be so that it isn't just hanging down on the ground?

Why would they replace the starter before charging the battery? It takes 5 minutes to get it off if it's the problem. Waste of money buying one before making sure the battery is fine.

He did do the 'tap on the starter a few times' thing, and that seemed to change the nature of the problem -- no clicking at all.

I admit I was only half paying attention to about half of what was going on. He called a mechanic friend at one point. I was searching for videos on the various possible issues.