Removing dried oil and grease

[rockquarry]

I second the use of plain kerosene. A lot of other products will work as well, but I can't think of anything that will do a better job than kerosene.

When I was a kid, virtually everyone used gasoline for anything that was gunked up and it worked very well. It's easy for me to picture my dad cleaning car parts in the '50s, perhaps with a lit cigarette dangling from his lips. I couldn't imagine using gasoline today for any sort of cleaning job.

 

[diyj98]

Just to throw another option out there, diesel fuel. I've used diesel fuel to clean old military rifles that were coated in years of dried on grease. I used to use diesel because it was more convientent for me than kerosine.

Gasoline will work, but it's not the safest option as rockquarry pointed out. Diesel or kerosine aren't nearly as dangerous to work with.