Electric motor keeps cutting out

There may be a thermal protector placed internally within the motor or motor-compressor to protect the motor and motor winding's components from dangerous overheating that can cause motor failure.
This overheating generally occurs when the motor is overloaded, a bearing seizes up, something locked the motor shaft from turning, or the motor simply fails to start properly. A failure to start may be caused by faulty start winding's in a motor.
The thermal protector consists of one or more heat-sensing elements integral with the motor or motor-compressor and an external control device. The thermal protection is in place to turn the motor off when excessive heat is generated within the motor circuitry and keep it from burning up the motor.
These thermal protectors are reset when the motor cools to a safe operating temperature. There is usually a visible red button located on the wiring side of the motor, opposite of the motor shaft, but not always. In some cases, these buttons are reset manually.