99 Rear Hatch Lock Actuator Question

[cww3rd]

My wife drives a 99 Grand Cherokee and the door lock actuator has gone bad. I have a replacement part and know what to do with one exception. The actuator went out with the hatch in the locked position. (Hopefully you can see my problem already.) I went to the local Jeep dealer to inquire about some manual way to unlock the gate and get it open so I can replace the actuator. Much to my surprise, the service guy told me there was no way to manually open the hatch or unlock it from the inside and that sometimes they have to take it to the body shop to get it open. He suggested carefully trying to open the panel from the inside with it shut. Anybody ever had the same problem and have a solution/suggestion?? Thanks

[studious03]

im in the same situation please help...

[Bob D.]

The dealership was being straight up with you; the only way to access it is to remove the interior molding.

[dksob81]

Are you sure the door lock actuator went bad?

The rear door latchs tend to get corroded and cease to work, like you will try to open it but it does nothing, like the door is locked. In this case there are a few things you can do, push in on the door, pull the handle (as to open the hatch) and lift the liftgate. or Give a couple good firm taps with a closed fist right next to the door handle. Make sure the doors are unlocked (using the power doorlock switch on driverside door).

Then once you get it open spray the latching assembly very good with some PB Blaster.

NOTE: I had this problem in my 94 awhile back, I had to always push in on the door and open it that way, Then I got sick of it, and fixed it and this was my fix.

[cww3rd]

Yes, I'm sure its the actuator. It makes a grinding noise when unlock is pressed. I have the same issue with my explorer and its the same noise. The gears in the actuator have come apart.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

[cww3rd]

I managed to figure out something that the dealership told me incorrectly (surprise, surprise). I went out this afternoon fiddling around with my jeep and found a small access door near the bottom right of the inside cover. I popped the cover off and felt around in there under the insulation and low and behold I was able to grab the locking mechanism and disengage it, unlocking my rear hatch. After that, there was about 6-8 clips, 4-5 screws and 15 minutes of work and my actuator was replaced. Everything is working like a champ now. Hope this helps someone out there.

[BenBB]

The latch is bad on my '96, and i did the same thing that cww3rd did, all you have to do is take out the top screws on teh back molding (and any more if there are any) then if you have enough room stick your hand down there and pull the lever up. If you can't get your hand between the trim and door, stick a small peice of 2x4 in between to space it out, seems to work good.