Any ideas what it could be?
Is it possible to take off the cover panel while the doors closed ? Any help would be appreciated . 06 Saturn ion sedan.

 

Eh, trying to remember. I just did this like 2 weeks ago, too. I believe I had to have the door open to get the pins out from the trim.

 

So I took the panel off and tried to mess with it. I've come to the conclusion that I believe to lock is jammed. I tried to do it manually and nothing. I tried to do the same to the opposite door. Put child lock and even locked it. I was able to do it manually on that door. Not on the opposite. Don't wanna take it to a shop but I think I tried everything I could do. I'll spray some lubricant . Haven't tried that.

 

are the positions of the "pinchers" on the door the same when the good door is locked vs the stuck door? I suspect they are not.

Watch very carefully what moves and what does not move when manually locking the good door -- close it slowly once it is against the latch/striker plate (??) to see what is pushing back to allow grasping of the latch.

I'm guessing, based on no experience whatsoever, that the lock on the bad door is mostly but not completely engaged. Some portion of the mechanism is hung up, and you should be able to compare good vs bad lock to figure out what it is. Also, I believe most locks have a release trigger that allows you to reset the lock to the open position in case the door lock gets triggered to the locked position while the door is still open.

So yes it seems jammed, but I think you should be able to figure out how to get it unbound. Lube (white lithium?) should help. Spray type prob easier for your application