Door lock problem

I have a 96 xj and the doors will not lock, manually or with button. Could this have anything to do with the fact that the cylinder for the key to turn the car on is loose?

For my clarification, please let me rephrase this for myself. Please correct me if I misunderstand.

Does the looseness of the key in the ignition cylinder have anything to do with the Jeep locking manually or with the electric button on the door?

If that is the question, the answer is no.

Thank you that was the question, so why would my doors not lock? When I try to lock the with power button all the door locks slightly jump but do not lock. I also cannot manually lock the, when i try to push towards the lock position it is very hard and wont budge.

If it was only one door, I would say that it is linkage stiffness in the door. You can't manually lock ANY door? That is weird. If it is just the drivers door, you need to take off the panel and play with the mechanical linkage. Alignment. lube, etc. Sorry, no good answer.

Not a single one. It sucks.

Well if you are in the rust belt and the previous owner has not used them much then yes they could be needing to get cleaned up and relubed. I went with the white lithium grease in the can. Easiest way is to spray it back on the linkage with the interior panel off and keep trying to move it a little bit at a time.

I removed every lock motor on my (3) Cherokees, opened them up, and lubed them with Mobil1 oil. The front ones work fine now, and the rear ones are intermittent, working best while the engine is running.

I suspect that the very small wires used these days coupled with the number of plug connectors in the circuits delivers insufficient current to power the lock motors. I plan to install larger gauge hot wires to the doors and use relays to feed the lock motors. I'll try this on one door (the right rear, because it's farthest from the source) and if that works, then the Left rear.
I strongly recommend lubing the lock motors first. If you decide to try this, make sure that the "hot" wire is fused... you don't want a fire!!

On the 96 the wiring is not as bad as the renix era system.

I had same problem with mine. I believe it was caused by previous owner taking door panels off and letting them hang while upgrading speakers.

took me about an hour to figure out but the linkage was bent slightly where the connection is made with the manual button and the linkage wire. I bent the very end of the wire in a little more at the L to hook on to the button a little more and bent the whole linkage up a little i think. you will have to play around with it. this problem was really bothering me because i could not lock the vehicle at all and i live in a large apartment complex.

the xj door panels i have to say are the easiest door panels I have ever removed and reinstalled with only 3-4 screws and the plastic push in plugs.

best of luck