Topic: xj rear door question

[mad mike]

my brother has a 98 xj sport and when he bought it the back door will not open anybody have a clue how to get in there to open the door so we can order whatever part is broken

[jagular7]

my brother has a 98 xj sport and when he bought it the back door will not open anybody have a clue how to get in there to open the door so we can order whatever part is broken

Not open from outside and/or inside?
Is it a 4dr or 2dr?
Does he know about the child safety lock?
Is the back door the rear hatch? If so, all there is on the outside is a button to push. I would guess if you took the interior panel off, you would see what is wrong.

[mad mike]

it is a two door and if you put a key into the rear hatch it just turns back and forth i crawled inside and there doesnt seem to be any bolts or screws to take off to take the panel off there are two bolts under the bumper which i assume is to the latch assembly put i dont know if i take them loose if i can open the door or not

[chardrc]

this happens to our 97 gc sometimes.. my dad usually just pulls in on the door and pulls on the handle really hard... hasn't broken yet but im not betting on it.

[jagular7]

it is a two door and if you put a key into the rear hatch it just turns back and forth i crawled inside and there doesnt seem to be any bolts or screws to take off to take the panel off there are two bolts under the bumper which i assume is to the latch assembly put i dont know if i take them loose if i can open the door or not

IIRC from my 87 2dr XJ (we're talking 8 yrs ago), the rear hatch interior panel is screwed in at the corners and then popped in plastic in the middle. Look real hard for some phillips head screws less than 1" from the edges. If anything, take a thin screwdriver and start prying along the edge of the panel to pop it off. Do note, the hatch should be fiberglass, at least mine was.

Good luck.