I had exactly the same experience with a sony mini system. Initial symptoms were bad laser, although adjusting the laser made it work again it still skipped or refused to play track 1. I replaced the laser with the exact same part you have, it was quicker to read the cd but still experienced skipping - I too thought it was lubrication but that didn't fix it either. I can only presume either the lubrication is incorrect and too viscous or there's a stepper motor problem...