Depending on the type of motor, it may still have a motor capacitor to help it get started. Certain types of electric motors need a capacitor in order to start safely from a standstill, no matter how old they are. (And such motor capacitors can often be pretty large and dangerous.) And even if you’re not opening the motor housing where such a capacitor would probably be located, that capacitor will still be connected to certain electrical leads inside the machine, and touching those leads could expose you to it.

So still a good idea to check.