Got the door panel off. Whew. Flipping up the tabs was easy once I knew that's what I had to do. At first I didn't see the bolt that points 45-degrees up by the grab handle. That stumped me for a while. Then I didn't know if the window strip comes off with the door or stays in place. The front part came off easily but the back part was stubborn. I noticed that the back part is pinned by the window frame trim so lifted the door panel and left the window stip in place. I couldn't get a good grip on the door release bowden cable to I punched it out with a screwdriver. Didn't break it.

It took forever and then some to peel back the vapor barrier. That's some sticky glue.

It turns out that the rod from the actuator that clevises into the rod from the door lock button is broken. Severed cleanly about an inch below the clevis. The darn thing runs inside a shield so access is tight. I think the way to replace it is to remove the electrical connector from the actuator (what are those for, alarm?), release the actuator and pull it down, replace the rod, then feed the rod up the shield as the actuator goes back in place. If that's not it, someone please tell me how to do it.

The EPC says that the rod is $1.20 retail part. Quite different from the power seat adjustment gear that's only available as part of a $1700 assembly.

I tested the actuator and it works.

I would have taken pictures but there's not much to see in pictures. As it is 75% of the work is blind and the rest is a strugle to get an eye and a flashlight into the same square inch of visual access.

Thanks again to mr. Goodwrench and HPF for seeing me through this.

Sixto
95 S420
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD