I have a 1999 jeep grand cherokee laredo that has a bad door latch mechanism. The door is fully closed I pulled the panel and tried to get it open from the outside handle line and the inside handle line and tried wd40 on it does anyone know how I can break this door free so I can replace the part
Just keep working on it. Try prying the door up while you try to open it. Use a wood or plastic wedge to force it up.
Worst case is… the latch is jammed and can’t be freed. Then you need to cut the striker by inserting a saws all blade between the door and jam from the inside.
While using the outside handle to open the door, push the door towards the vehicle to see if it opens.
Tester
When the door is locked you can still pull up on the outside handle, right? But that won’t open the door. So maybe the problem is that the door is locked, and no amount of pulling on the cable connected to the handle is going to open the door in that case. You can probably unlock it using similar techniques, but may have to fiddle with the linkages inside the door panel rather than cables.
If nothing else seems to work, before cutting the striker, I’d probably opt to first remove both seats, in the hope that the better access would do the trick.
Be sure to take advantage of the fact you have a working door on the other side. Remove that panel for a comparative look-see too.
Another idea, see if you can figure out a way to spray some rust-busting product like PB Blaster in the striker plate area and let it soak overnight before trying again. A few months ago my truck’s rear brake drum was rusted-stuck to the hub. I was able to finagle some of my home-brew rust penetrant into that area. An overnight soak, followed by inventing a method to put a little outward force on the drum to pull it away from the hub, some gentle tapping with a hammer, voila.
My homebrew recipe: 1/3 acetone, 1/3 auto trans oil (mercon 4), 1/3 WD 40. If I don’t have WD 40 then I mix the first 2 equally, seems to work ok.
Tried that I might half to cut it but I’m trying to avoid that I got a crowbar going to wedge it in between and try pry it open
its not locked i have the links exposed that not working the latch mechanism is they problem I have determined that
this is what I having trouble with it seems on the points that the links go into a loose no resistance and the latching part is no longer connected to the door handle links is what it feels like