Rear door lock stuck/won't open

All
I have been having problems with my rear 2 doors for a few years now. One of them I was able to fix with some adjusting however my driver rear door I can't get. I locked it from the inside about a year ago and now the lock is stuck in in a awkward position.
Due to it not being key operated and only being the little thumb button I can't get a lot of force on it to move it.
Anybody experiences this or know a good fix?

Take the trim panel off to clean and lubricate the locking and latching mechanisms. You may have to partially remove the plastic trim panel and get inside the door to actuate the lock rod or latch rod to open the door.

did you slam a blankie in it?

souske said:

did you slam a blankie in it?

Click to expand...

I thought the same thing when I saw the topic!

Glad to see its not just me having this issue, I almost dragged my sleeping daughter through the rear hatch last night...

for some reason the rear side doors have been much harder to open on every xj i've had. they must not be sealed from the outside as well or something because they always gum up. Tim has the right answer, pop the panels loose, blast the old grease off of everything and lube it up again to free things up. once you get it open clean and lube the rest of the parts you couldn't reach.