401/403 door lock mechanism

[Geoff Kingston]

George,
The photograph shows that the lock is in the unlocked position, when the button is pushed in the arm on this should engage with the alloy lever in the lock mechanism shown to the right of it in the picture.
This is obviously sitting in the wrong position which would happen if the wire in the cable to the internal door release broke or as in your case the cable is disconnected. On a couple of my locks some years back I actually put some wire around the mechanism to stop that happening if the wire in the cable broke.
I suspect your lock may be perfectly OK but until you connect and adjust the internal release cable the arm and the lever are not going to engage to open the door.
If you move the alloy lever in the lock towards the front of the car so that it can come into contact with the arm you may be able to use a cable tie to hold it in the right position to open the door until you fit and adjust the internal cable.
Hope that makes sense.
Geoff.