Engine bay starter solenoid with multiple wires connected, label…

My starter relay (E9TZ-11450-B). Functionally identical to the older style whose main lugs point to opposite sides, but a vastly superior design. If the white text labels in the pic are too small to read, click the pic.

Note that the starter wire is ALONE on one of the Main terminals (it doesn't matter which). The start trigger wire (R/LB) is alone on the S (Start) terminal. Since I'm using an old (carburetor) ignition switch, I'm using a relay with an I (Ignition) terminal to feed the EFI computer during cranking, but it normally bypasses an Ignition resistor on older vehicles. EFIs do not need that terminal, so most of their starter relays don't have it.

EVERYTHING else is on the other Main terminal so they're all connected to the battery.
IF THE IMAGE IS TOO SMALL, click it.

The sticker on top of this relay indicates that it has a diode from the S terminal to the base (ground) to dissipate the backflow of current when it turns OFF, which is required for all EFIs so the TFI-IV ICM doesn't lock into START timing for the whole drive cycle. The diode won't affect carb vehicles, so most modern relays are built with diode-suppression.

See also:
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Owner caption July 2010 · Photo 3157 of 5000