I took it apart and cleaned it, but didn't have a proper lubricant handy. I imagined kerosene might work, being a light petroleum product, and tried that. The clock then worked perfectly on my bench as long as I kept resetting the solenoid by hand. I reassembled it in it's case and reinstalled it in the dash of my car. As soon as I reconnected the electrical feed I heard a loud "POOF"! There was just enough kerosene vapor in the clock's case to provide a near perfect fuel/air mixture... and I had just provided the ignition source!
No damage... but a valuable lesson learned!
