okay I give!
My drivers door handle has always been hard to open but lately it kept sticking up and then wouldn't work at all.

I removed the door panel and squeezed the handle a few times and the plastic locating piece to the handle broke. Ordered 2 more and replaced the ones on the linkage that the outside door handle operates...its STILL no good, the whole linkage just wiggles around so much that there is too much give to operate the locking mechanism.

What am I missing? This linkage is adjusted as tight as possible and the plastic/metal "bushings" are new.

 

1988 NO idea.

My '85 did similar, sort of, and I found it was the actual lock binding from accumulated dust/WD40/some more dust. A good clean, locks out of the door, and powdered graphite lubed had the doors open with one finger.

Not a nice job with large hands and arthritis, but I managed.

 

I spent a delightful two days solving a similar problem. There are two rods that go directly from the handle to the lock mechanism on the door. One actually opens the door latch, and this one is not adjustable. The other one operates the locking mechanism and is adjustable for length. It adjusts by loosening a threaded collar on the rod, and then you have to actually rotate the rod, which means the rod has to be unfixed from the door handle. So adjustment is by trial and error to an extent.

Removing all lost motion is essential, but too much and the door will not unlock! Test it with the door open and trip the mechanism using a rod or screwdriver to operate the latch mechanism on the door edge.

If the adjustable rod is adjusted too short, the lock locks perfectly, but in the unlocking phase, the rod does not push the locking catch in the mechanism back far enough, and the handle remains blocked. It only takes a turn or two too much on the adjuster to make the difference.

Greg

 

Okay I just spent a good 30 minutes adjusting this thing from all the way tight to 7 turns out and not a single one works.

I thought about drilling the piece that pushes on the dowel out and putting a screw to add some height but when its in the closed position they are nearly touching.

On nearly all positions the door handle just doesn't lift it far enough, it maxes out and there is another cm or 2 that it needs. There is nothing else I can adjust.

I wanted to make this work well but now I just wish i could open my door at all

 

I can't really visualize the details you've mentioned. Been too many years :-)

However, and FWIW.....

I suspect a problem with the latch itself, not the adjustments.

I've fixed a whole slew of a inoperative door latches and door locks on old Jags (and other makes) and never once had to tamper with the adjustments. In all cases but one *cleaning and lubricating the latch assembly* fixed the problem.

On the lone exception...a Ser III XJ6.... the latch assembly had a broken spring inside.

Might be worth a try in your case.

Sometimes a good dousing with aerosol brake wash will do the trick. Best, though, to remove the latch from the door (not that hard, really) for a good soaking in solvent and brush cleaning. Follow up with ample lubrication using product of your choice ....but not thick or gooey.

Cheers
DD

 

Wish I had taken pics but I found the solution. My 88 had "square" handles and the replacement one that was broken has the "round" handle where the inside of the part your hand touches is rounded off.

Even with the rod completely bottomed out I wasn't getting enough distance to open the door. After taking it out and putting it back in trusting I was at fault and it would eventually work I said F@#$ it.

The spot the adjustable rod sits has some extra metal under it, So I drilled it out. After relocating just underneath it I played with the adjustment until it was nearly level with the door handle at rest and tried it out. No bueno but close! After a few more test tries going up and down the door opened like a charm!!

So if anyone comes across this in the future and has that linkage tightened as far as it can go, drill a new hole out underneath and move it!! It doesn't seem like much but I actually let it out a hole 7 turns and it works perfect.

Sorry I don't have pics but if you ever get into this you'll know from my description whats going on.

 

Its pretty easy to see where the actual "handle" part moves and in this case i could see if travel all the way up and down, its actually really simple mechanically...I hate the metal on metal sound it makes inside the door but it gives a clear indication its travelling all the way and stopping on metal.

All the springs of the assembly are in place and I could simply push some with a screwdriver to gain the extra cm.


I think the need for adjustment in this case was the door handle being slightly different.

 

A lot of the problems with this sort of thing is simple lack of use and proper maintenance.
I hardly ever took a passenger in my car so it was only by chance that I realised that the passenger door lock wouldn't work properly. Similarly, in the 4 years that I have owned the car only one other person has driven it and because he was the same height as me he didn't need to adjust the mirrors; when I was prepping the car for sale I found these problems. A big favourite on Jags is the boot (trunk) lock; stick the key in there once a week and work it and then you can avoid a really annoying problem later on.
For the door locks use the recommended white grease; it does what it says on the tin.