97 XJ Rear Doors Stuck Shut??
 

So I recently picked up a 97 XJ Country, (with power locks) and both rear doors are stuck shut. The buttons on the outside handle are pushed in, and hard to move, and on the inside, the lock switch was stuck on the middle and the door lever moved, but didn't do anything..

So I got the door panels off without breaking them, and can see inside, tried moving and playing with all the levers, lubed them up well with PB Blaster, and tried for over an hour to somehow get the doors opened without damaging them, with no luck..

Any ideas??

I had the same problem on a 95 parts rig that I had. i ended up having to use a prybar on the lever inside the door... ended up bending it, but the door finally came open. I only opened it to remove them for a half door build so I wasnt worried about bending/breaking the latch

Try pulling the fuse to the electric locks. The locks on mine went all haywire one day and pulling the fuse released everything so I could unlock and lock them manually. I still haven't found the source of the problem but that for another day.

Dale

I've got two rear harness if yours are messed up and a rear driver door mech. Sound like the mech is messed up or the harness is freaking out and won't let it open and keeps telling it to stay locked

You've probably already checked, but see if the child lock is sticking, I had that problem when I first bought mine

Thanks for the info ill try that when I get home. As for the child lock I haven't ever had the door open to see if it engaged but that was something I was thinking could be wrong with the mechanism.

look in the jamb of your front door, youll see an oval hole with an allen head adjustment screw in it. that screw adjusts the length of the linkage from the push button outside to the latch, when these latches get gummed up they will stick in the halfway position, which jambs up the lock as well. so, its a tight squeeze but stick your hand inside the door and feel around for that linkage and pull it up, then open your door. my 97 has this issue on the driverside front and rear doors, generally when its cold more so then warm outside. The rear(since its such a pita) i disconnected that linkage completly so it will only open from the inside, the front only ever sticks when you push the button on the outside to get in, then you try to shut it and it wont latch, stick your key in the oval hole and pry the screw up, and it latches.

hope this helps

Thanks for the info but the problem I am having is even after prying the linkages nothing will get the latch to release..

Did you get to the latch I'm talking about? It's really hard to get at, and it sounds exactly like my issue, the lock button is stuck in the middle and you can't move it to lock or unlock, inside latch feels tight and outside feels like it's not moving anything.

Ok, what you need to do is get the door panels off. You need to take the 3 maybe 4 (can't remember) phillips head acres out of the door. Then pry the door panel off. You won't be able to pull it completely away Bc the linkage for the lock/latch and the electrical components will be connected still. Pull the panel back. Enough so you can get your hand down there and undo the linkage and then unclip the switch.. Remove the door skin and pull on the 2 linkage rods. Like I said, one will be the lock/unlock and the other will open your door. Inspect the linkage and make sure it is not bent out of shape and most importantly make sure it's connected at both ends when you reinstall the door skin. By prying on things your just bending them and making it worse. You need to find out what the problem is. Whats stopping the linkage from operating as it should and repair it. For example, my passenger door wouldn't lock, but I could hear the linkage try and do it. After inspecting the linkage it was bent out of whack from the PO trying to force it to lock... After taking 20 mins to bend it back into shape it works just fine every time.




Also it's the 96- Cherokees that have the real door lock sticking problems. They stick like no tomorrow. They are really really bad.. I mean they are honestly. The worst.lol... Usually not so much the 97+ gang but hey they're all xjs after all..

Read my reply.. That's what was going on with my passenger front lock. Your linkage is bent.

Thanks for all the advice, and I did end up getting one door open!

After playing with the locks alot and giving it a lot of PB blaster, I disconnected the pwr to the latch/mechanism and found the lever, with a big screwdriver I pryed it enough to get the door free, but the child lock was on, so I had some issues until I got the outside button moving a little, which was enough to get the door open :)