in side that black housing is the lock cylinder rod.


this yellow nylon part moves up and down when key turned, I guess it is the lock cylinder rod. It is inside this black plastic part and I cant figure out what to do next.

I have almost everything removed to get drivers door lock actuator removed, it is unbolted from door and I can move it around, and Lock button rod unhooked, and Handle connector rod unhooked. But, there is a key lock cylinder rod (which moves up and down when I put the key in and turn it ) goes to what looks like a nylon(?) connector that i cant seem to figure out to remove. I have read many threads, and seen many pics, but in mine, the key lock cylinder rod is behind some sort of black plastic housing, I can't figure out how to remove.
Anybody got a suggestion? I can do more pics if needed.

 

Yes that connector is nylon but it is normally exposed and accessible once you are inside the door. It seems like that actuator has a guard around it. It looks like the guard covers the entire lock barrel too. I have not heard of that before, but it could have been added at the 1997 model year I suppose. Maybe as added theft prevention? Can't you undo that brass nut visible in the picture which appears to hold the guard on? I think that nut is one of two that holds the outside door handle to the door.

It has been a long time since I had the left (USA driver's) door latch out, and I can't remember exactly how that nylon connector comes off. But it should be doable if you are careful not to put too much pressure on it.

Edit: It just came to me... the nylon rod for the lock barrel has a sliding collar around it, that is pulled up to disengage the upper and lower halves of the rod. Should be very easy once you get that guard (?) out of the way.

 

OK, I'll see if I can remove that guard, by removing the brass bolt, and see what I can do to remove that guard. thanks.

 

Your advice was right. that black guard is metal and removing the brass door handle bolt allowed it to be removed. Pics included. I agree that it must be new in 97 anti-theft (prevents pulling up lock with a "slim Jim" metal door un-locker strip), I have never seen it mentioned before. Once off I saw what the previous pictures had shown ; the cylinder lock rod to the nylon connector to actuator, with the black collar; you slide up to then pop that rod out. BUT I could not budge that collar. Sprayed with penetrating oil, let it soak in for 48 hours, tried again with rubber grip cloth. still no budge. No tool I tried worked either. The whole reason I wanted to remove actuator in the 1st place, was to replace the unlock cable to door handle (pics show how bad it was). I discovered you don't have to !! I found a tiny black clip which, once removed, allows EZ removal and replace or that cable !! Everywhere else I had read, said actuator had to come out. It doesn't ( at least not on the 97 xj6 vdp US version) . You do still have to remove plastic actuator case and "maybe" that black metal guard, to allow easy movement of actuator.

 

Cool, we learned that the 97s have a guard over the lock barrel rod! Hopefully you tried pulling that black collar down as well as up...not that it matters much for your pull handle cable replacement. I am familiar with the pull cable becoming frayed as the strands break one by one. A contributing factor to that is the 3 main pivot points on the latch become dirty and dry over time. Hence it takes more force to pull the latch open. Those same dry pivot points also cause the electric actuator mechanism to break, and/or the manual door lock lift rod to become springy and inoperable.

Thank you for posting and documenting all of this as best you could. It is a tight fit in there.