I cannot see paradise by the dashboard lights

I had this problem last year. The lights for the license plate were also out. The shop initially thought I would need a fuse box rebuild, but it was just a relay switch. Still cost about $700.

 

$700 ..............


For what exactly?

 

Your profile shows 1984 Mondial. Is that in fact the car you are asking about? Although basically all wired the same, there are some subtle differences.

Note to Ferrari - why don't the Mondial Owner's Manuals have an electrical diagram like the GTS/GTB car owner's manual do???

Other 1984 cars have a yellow wire/black stripe from the dimmer control to the guage illumination lamps through connectors. You would need to get a meter on that wire to determine if there is voltage there or at the black wire which brings voltage from the fuse panel to the dimmer control. The owner's manual shows the fuse feed as right box fuse #7 which also feeds license illumination (reverenced above by Tony). Guess the first thing to check is your license plate lamps which will tell you if the fuse and holder are supplying juice. If not, change the fuse anyway.

 

Bypass the dimmer rheostat to see if that solves the instrument lighting problem.

 

I just reviewed the bill - actually it was only $400 for the relay repair. I had some other stuff done, too. He said he had to research some extra information on the wiring for that car, and had to disassemble quite a bit to diagnose the problem. Any work you can do yourself will help with the cost. Me - my motto is "if it takes too much time, or I could get hurt, I'll pay someone else to do it"