Greetings. I did a thread about door cables and bought the cable end repair kit for the passenger side rear door. BUT, that wasn't the issue. Nothing wrong with the cables.
Two things came up.
One was to fix the rubber cable end support bar. This youtube vid shows how. My repair is very similar. Good as new with minimal handle pull. Right about 1:55 is a quick glimpse of the fix.
Second thing was that the key lock to lock rod bracket was worn at the cylinder mounting point that uses an E-clip to retain. Sloppy. Key would not unlock door. Luckily, a FLAPS had a set in stock. ~$40 and six minutes later and all is well