YJ Door Latch Stuck

If you can see the latch from the inside I would spray it down with WD40 and let it set awhile, then try it again. I have full doors, but haven’t had the inside panels off. But I have used this method on other doors with good results.

Like ytradio said, WD40 may free things up. Also a gentle push closed from the outside while working the release might free it up and get it open.
I use WD40, Liquid Wrench, and then Kroil in that order on my 95 Wrangler. Kroil is rather expensive so I use it last.
Good luck.

I would also spray it with some gunk removal remedy and try pulling the latch to open it up. If that doesn't budge, however, you are able to take the door completely off of the body.
You can remove the striker pin and cover from the body, take off the hinges, and shimmy the door out that way (with the striker still in the latch) and then work on it somewhere else to give you more space to get it working again. You probably would want to remove the top for that though

There's a long kind of "U" shaped rod that goes to the outside handle and loops down at the bottom of door. Try pulling up on it. (sometimes it slips down) then pull down. It should unlatch. That's what happened to mine.

I don’t suppose the OP is still around, but I have a similar problem.

I’ve had the door panels off both full doors several times in the past few months; last time was about a month ago when I replaced the interior and exterior handles. Got the rods connected, sprayed the latch mechanism with brake cleaner followed by a teflon spray lube. All was well until Tuesday when I unlocked both doors with the key: the handles would not open the doors, as it they were still locked.

I figured the rod had come off the lock cylinder, but when I removed the door panels the rods are still connected, and the lock mechanism moves normally, but the handles, both inner and outer, do not release the latch. All the rods appear to be moving correctly.

I don’t think it can be gunk in the mechanisms; they’ve been cleaned multiple times and worked fine for a month until I locked the door with the key for the first time. It’s totally weird that it happened in both doors simultaneously.

Is there a way to release the latch with a screwdriver? I may have to try and remove the striker and door together.

Update:

I isolated the issue, although I don’t have a solution yet.

There’s a metal plate that slides rearward when the lock rods are moved to unlock; mine are moving 90% of the way but not enough to actually unlock. When I pried that metal plate a little further, it pops into place and the latch will release normally.

I sprayed around that whole area with brake cleaner and followed up with a lubricant, but still no joy. I removed the 4 bolts holding the latch assembly to the door frame, and in that position the lock-unlock plate seemed to move all the way, but when I secured the latch again it got hung up.

For now, Im just going to leave the doors unlocked. Someday maybe I’ll remove the latch completely, but that looks like it would require removing the window channels too and I don’t have time for that right now.