I remember reading an article explaining the inner workings of the gear, and that the motor does infact tend to pump every 15 or 20 minutes for a bit to keep the hydraulic pressure and to only pop the breaker if it pumps for an excessive amount of time...(due to probability of the fluid leaking if it is pumping for an extended period of time.)
Seems pointless to pop the breaker if there seems to be no issue with the fluid pressure.
Pyro
When the hydraulics get a bit tired, thee motor can actuate every five minutes or so, albeit for a very short time. However, the current drain is enough to be "seen" by the sensitive magnetometers on board and constitute "noise" on the acquired signal.
It is for these reasons that the motor is disabled, rather than the risk of damaging the motor.