Rear lift door won't open

Evening everyone, I have a quick question. On my boys 97, the rear lift door wont open with the pull latch. Can anyone point me in the direction where I need to start troubleshooting? Thanks in advance.

 

Does it move at all, stick open or is it stuck closed...can you describe it more. I just fixed mine that had a stuck handle and sticky components.

 

It is stuck closed. The pull handle feels like it works. It is like the armature or whatever it is called is not releasing from the cylinder thing.

 

Can you pull it back out to the normal position? In other words does it have a free range of motion it you push it back to normal? It just doesn't spring back to normal I'll bet

 

The handle feels like it is working correctly. When I pull it, it returns to it's normal position like it should without sticking or going slow.

 

Sounds identical to what was happening to mine. I removed the tailgate panel (only one screw, it also holds the strap to close the gate, the rest are just the plastic pegs) and WD'd all the moving parts. Also sprayed some penetrating oil on the locking mechanism. I let the oil sit and the next day everything worked fine. Took about 30 minutes from start to finish. Maybe it will work for you.

 

Cool, thanks! I'll try this in the morning.

 

@kylejo75 thanks for the assist. I was able to get the rear hatch open today. I had to literally put my shoulder into and got it open.
The round thing that the latch closes around has come loose. Got it tightened and sprayed everything with some dry graphite, now it works as it should. Thanks for the input.