Michael Ware wrote:
Well George, I don't know the first thing about your plane, but it seems a
straightforward way of troubleshooting the symptoms would be to place a
manually operated switch in the circuit in place of the hydraulic pressure
switch.
Another way to rule it in/out would be to put a test light on the load side
of the switch, see if it goes on/off when the pump does. Also, do you have a
way to monitor the hydraulic pressure while this is taking place? Perhaps
there is a partial blockage or other problem in the lines or in the
hydraulic actuators, causing the pressure to shoot up.

Ditto for me:

Or the pump is overloading if it has an internal thermal reset that
tripping as it gets loaded up...