[cbracer]

So I figured out my problem, there is a pawl that springs down onto the lever and it was stuck in the mechanism. A small screw driver push onto the gold metal pawl next to the inner door handle lever and it pushed back down.

The micro switch on the mechanism is what tells the car the door is open so if it doesn't switch then you need a $200 mechanism because you can't replace that switch. Mine was gunked up with the rubber switch seal and the plastic covering on the lever tearing apart. I was able to clean it all up and bend the switch cover plate to hold the switch closer making up for the plastic covering I had to cut off. It all works now but that's about a 3 hour job really. The driver's door seemed to have the exact same problem and I was able to fix that. It's now been a few days and I've had to continually fix the passenger one to the point where I give up and will be buying a new one for that. argh.... now I know why people just replace stuff rather than fix it when the time to fix it exceeds the value of the new part!

I'm now an expert on the lock mechanism and the window regulators (slides and mechanism). 8 hours of hands on experience on top of the other 8 hours the first time the plastic bushing broke on the window mechanism.