Rear door stuck/locked shut

I have a 1989 diesel jetta and the rear passenger side door is stuck shut. The locking mechanism broke and the door is in the locked position. I'm not sure if you are supposed to be able to open the door when it is locked even from the inside, but I cannot open it from the inside either. I have tried to old coat hanger, metal bar technique but I can not get the door open. If I can get the door open then I would be able to remove the panel and replace the locking and latch mechanism. Any advice as to how to get this three door Jetta back to its old time four?

when you say lock mechanism broke, you mean the little plastic knob is gone? or the metal rod that that pushes/pulls the lock tab?
this is the Jetta that the lock feature is by the door release handle, correct?
should be able to unscrew (phillips or torx?) the little cover where the lock and door handle rests without having to open the door (still a pain in the butt to do in the rear seat), once that cover is off, if the lock and handle has come detached from the rods, just reach into the door with long needle nose (or a magnet) and manually push/pull the rod for the lock, and should open from inside or out.
once the door is open, the panel off, it might be the only thing you need is a little clasp or retainer of some kind to hold the rod to the locking tab
(on GM vehicles, they are made of plastic (I think purposely) and break every 5-10 yrs depending on useage, and how brittle it gets)
hope this helps,
if you need more,
email me
chris
nrt racing
[email protected]

Exact same problem on mine, you have to take the bench out, and take the panel out (unfortunedly by braking one of the bolts that is impossible to reach)
and then you can reach from inside, the outside handle can't be removed unless you twist it until you brake it, I broke mine and picked up one from the wreckers for $5,
Anyways, you should be able to reach the locking mechanism from inside once you take the panel off, the long hook from the lever must be pulling the lock, if this hapens then it's not the lever or the outside handle, it's the lock, it moves with the pin but doesn't really unlock, so, If you can pull both in and out and nothing hapens, the last resource (it's what I am going to try) is to take the rubber seal around the door from inside and then try the coat hanger between the door and the chassis, someone with the same problem told me to do this and it actually worked for him. Good luck and let me know what hapened.