You can use old fashioned liquid cigarett lighter fluid in a pinch buddy, the kind we used to use for Zippo lighters. It is a suprisely good solvent, no water or oil in it.

Park

Gasoline should be fine as long as you are aware that it can send you into the afterlife with any spark. Kerosene would work but, as Spook notes, will require a rinse with isopropyl alcohol to remove the oily residue. Turpentine would also work: same caveat.

Dear Anthony,

Good a.m. and may this find you well. I would not use kerosene, or any other oily material: it will be hard to remove the last of it, and dirt and grit will cling to it, quickly restoring the accumulation of crud, of which you want to be rid. If carb/choke cleaner is not available, fuel injection cleaner will do.

At the risk of laboring the obvious, make sure there are no open flames nearby. Also, to pull back on the valve, use a narrow, flat-blade screw-driver. Cover the tip with duct tape, to avoid scratching the working surfaces.

Check the motor contacts for corrosion. If you can find it, De-Oxit will remove oxidation. A thin coating of dielectric grease on the contacts, will inhibit further corrosion, always a problem in a very humid climate.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

spook