door wont open! (help please)

Hey guys how is it going?
So I recently got my first XJ, its a 1990 2dr 4wd nothing fancy, manual locks and windows. It has 90k on the second engine 240k on the body.

Well my problem is the PO had problems with the door and instead of fixing it he just diconnected the rods so it cannot be opened from inside or out and used the passengers door to get into and out of the XJ. THat was fine for him because he was 5'5 150. however I am 6'4" and 350lbs (Hence HeavyT or Heavy Travis) I have been going in and out the passenger door these first few days however I am not digging this so today I stripped down the door with it closed and now I have access to the interior of the door but cannot find which latch I need to pull. All I want is for the door to open so I have more room to work. I pulled the DS seat so I would have more room I just cannot find out what I need to pull or lift to open the door. I read over the haynes manual and it does not give a clear picture of what I need to move to open the door.

Any suggestions?

In brief:
1990 XJ 2Door
Driver side wont open
NEED help


THanks in advance guys!

T

Inside the door if the rods are still in place there's 2 going from the latch towards the front, one is for the lock the other is for the door handle and both move back and forward on a horizontal plane. So grab one of them and pull it towards the front of the door and it will either lock/unlock the door or release the latch.

The rods are lying on the bottom of the door, have messed with everything in the door that I can think of. Do you think it would be worth it to take it to a jeep dealer and have them fix it or would it break the bank? or would they laugh and tell me to leave with my POS old jeep?

I had the same problem since the PO locked his keys in and went the best way possible......fucking up the drivers side door. RETARD

I had to work directly on the latch.....go to the passenger door and feel around to see how the latch works. Then transpose all the motions into the drivers side and viola it opens. Mine however, had to have the latch's lever go up to open on a normal one, but this one was wayyyy f'ed up and had to go down.....then I got it open, swapped it out

Good luck. It can be a bitch to work in a car on the door insides with with door closed. Just be patient.

Hope you get it. Mine took 3 days of trying on and off.

THanks for the encouragement I am going to go back out and give er another go tomorrow, Was hoping to not rip apart the passenger door also, looks like what I might do!

THanks for the encouragement I am going to go back out and give er another go tomorrow, Was hoping to not rip apart the passenger door also, looks like what I might do!

Chain and a tree works too but it is a bit harder to close after that.

I agree that taking the cover off the passenger door to see how it is suposed to work is a good idea. if the Driver dr is messed up anyway you will probably have to repleace the mechanisim anyway. if it is the lock that is screwy you will want to replace the passenger cylendar also so it will not be a waste to open it up.

IIRC, the lowest lever on the latch is the one that will release the catch for the striker and the highest one needs to be "up" for it to be unlocked.

I'll go check in a few and make sure fo this......





hope these help a little-- in both pics you're looking directly into the door from where you'd be if the door was closed.

THe pics look like they will help I will give it another go tonight when I get home!