1994 Chevy Lumina Doors won't open

we had the same problem with our car. I bet your door handle moves freely. If so there is a bar underneath the handle that you can grab with needle nose pliers, pull up on it and it should open. What I found is after the door is open you need to rip apart the inside of your door and there is a bar with threads on one end inside the door that probably broke or came off. The bar is about 6 inches long and has basically a pin on the end. If your lucky just hook it back up and it will work. If you have our luck then you will need a new bar and door handle as the part the bar goes through the outside handle is broke. The thread end of the bar goes inside the door on the door latch (it has a metal clip on it) and the flattened end of the bar fishes out into the outside door handle slot. Sorry for being a little fague but this is the best I can help. I had to replace both sides.

I just sufferd a similar fate on the driver's door of a '97 Lumina.

In my case the rod from the lock cylinder to the door latch detached from the cylinder. Simply the weight of the rod and its latch lever was enough to keep the door locked even when I tried to unlock it using the inside lock lever.

I was able to remove enough of the interior door panel to reach inside the door and lift up on the rod (there are a total of four rods attached to the latch in our car). While holding the rod up, I was able to open the door normally. I'm still working on how to replace the small plastic "nut" that retains the rod in the cylinder lever. I hate plastic parts!!!!!