My 99 Cherokee rear door has been stuck for sometime and yesterday I attempted to dig into it as I have a second child on the way and need to access both sides. I was able to take off the door panel from the inside to access the latch. At first glance it was corroded so I sprayed with PB and finally that was working but then still no luck. It seems either the lock is not fully unlocking or the latch is not working from inside. After hours of getting nowhere I finally broke the clip holding on the lock rod. I have attempted moving the lock piece manually and that doesn't seem to help. I have attached photos of what it currently looks like. I am lost on how to get this open so I can replace the latch. Anyone have any tricks to get this door open?

I run across this from time to time and I spray the entire mechanism with white lithium grease and exercise both handles to get the grease moved all around in there. It works for a good amount of time then gets finicky again, but I havent had to add more grease yet...

Sounds like the lock is jammed. Try working the lock rod back and forth while you look inside.

Yes I think its soaked good enought because everything moves in there but the lock only goes about 1/4 maybe not enough.


Well this is what I did until I broke the lock rod plastic piece as you can see in my second picture. So my only option to move the lock cylinder is with a tool and I haven't had much luck yet.

The broken one on the bottom is the latch rod to the door handle. The one above it is the lock button. If you get the lock working, you should be able to open the door using the outside button.