Next time try that WD40 that is/was sitting on top of the cabinet. It's not a lubricant, it's a cleaner. Just spray, let it soak in and scrape. I've never needed more.
Sounds similar to what recently happened to my 40ish year old craftsman compressor. In my case the start switch was getting stuck and not allowing the motor to start or if it started it would go low RPM with high load and pop the breaker. What I found was a slightly gummy start switch that was...