Hi, so I have a '74 Beetle, and it has been working totally fine until I installed a cigarette lighter (for a phone charger) and after that, whenever my car goes down to idle it just dies, rather than staying at idle. It runs totally fine and gets plenty of gas while pushing the gas pedal, but when the gas pedal is not pushed at all, the RPMs just lower down and the car dies.

I tried checking out the Pilot (idle) Jet, it does work, I have tested it, it clicks when I put power to it, and I took it out, cleaned it off a bit, looked at it, put it back into the carburetor, and it idled totally fine for about 20 seconds, then it went back to its usual of dying when it should idle. Would you recommend just buying a new Pilot Jet and trying that out? or should I remove and clean the carburetor? or just get a new one?

Thanks!

 

It reads to me like the cigarette lighter hook up is the problem. Try hooking it up straight to the battery and see if that solves the problem, especially if you did not have a lighter in it before or perhaps the voltage or amps is higher than the electrical system is designed for. In either case, this should correct the problem. Think of it as hooking up a radio that is not a vw radio. Hooking it up directly to the battery, keeps it from messing with your car's electrical system by making sure it is able to accommodate the extra volts or amps without loading down the entire system too much and potentially causing an electrical fire.