the back hatch wont open on my dads 98 xj after being unlocked.

 

Its a pain in the a*s. use a flat head on the inside to pry the latch open. Then once open take the inside panel off. In the hole latch thing. There is a threaded stud that comes up and a bracket that is meant to wrap around the threads and pull the stud up to open the latch. Its hard to explain but once you take the panel off you will see. I used a vice grips to smash that clamp thing on to the stud. Should have dun a write up on it. Sorry good luck.

 

Before doing the above, try pushing in on the tailgate real hard right above/next to the handle. While pushing in try lifting the handle. If you can get it open this way then you will need to adjust the rod thing mentioned above.