E32 Disabling Deadlocks

There has been some documentation out there about disabling the deadlock system on the E32 but after just going through it I realized it needed some clarification.

For reference, this was the existing documentation: link

I disabled the deadlocks on my car after the door lock bracket broke on the driver's side and I accidentally deadlocked the car. I was able to open it after a long time fiddling with the emergency unlock position but I never wanted it to happen again. Thieves nowadays are more likely to break a window if they can't open the car and I'd rather they successfully use a slim jim and find that I keep nothing of value in the car than cause physical damage. Some may disagree and wish to keep stock functionality.

In any case, the existing documentation was a starting point but what took much more searching was the exact location of the relay box for the central locking system and an easily reversible modification to the box. The instructions refer to cutting a trace on the board which is never a good idea.There are a number of easily removable jumpers on the board that are better candidates for modification.

First of all, the relay box is located under the rear seat. It's the rear most box (circled in the attached picture) and also seems to control the interior lights. I only found that out because my interior lights went out when I unplugged the box and back on when it was inserted. There is a cover that must be removed in order to get to the state in the picture where the box can be pulled up to remove it. Three Phillips head screws hold it down. One is well hidden underneath the large bundle of wires. There are no locking tabs holding the relay box down, just pull up hard.

Pins 4 and 15 on the black connector control the relay for the deadlock. The connector is well numbered on its face. Applying 12v using a standard power supply is an easy way to test the relay and verify that it has been disabled while off the car.

To disable the relay I simply removed the metal jumper as shown in the pictures. This operation is completely reversible and does not require any trace cutting. By looking through the board with a backlight the trace routing from pin 4 to the relay was obvious. If the deadlock feature ever needs to be reinstalled one can simply run a wire to recreate the connection. The PCB is single sided with non-plated through holes.

With the module reinstalled the deadlocks no longer function in the car. The key can be turned all the way to the left and right and the doors only standard-lock.