Ok, so i picked up a barely used brushless SC10 today, I mean this thing is really nice, like new. It came with a brushless motor and a nice LRP esc. I dont know too much about technical side of rc, just basic parts and what they do really, but I have raced a stock slash and a brushless RC10B4 fairly succesfully. Anyways, I picked up the SC10 and drove to my local track, where I installed the reciever, the steering worked but the throttle made a loud screeching noise instead of spinning the rear wheels. So I took the truck over to the hobby shop, where the guy at the counter told me I needed a sensor plug? or sensor wire? one of the two cant remember what its called, and before I walked in there I had indeed noticed there was an empty slot, but the seller had told me it was ready to go minus tx/rx, so i thought nothing of it. Well, he put a sensor wire on it, and we tested it. The rear tires did indeed spin and everything worked, but a few seconds later white smoke started pouring out of the esc, and we quickly turned it off and took it outside. The motor or wires werent hot at all, just the esc, it looks fine but im sure its fried on the inside, and it still smells, so Im sure its done. I heard the guy say it probably happened because I had given it throttle before the signal wire was attached, I dont know if thats true but something surely went wrong. So I have two questions: 1. What could be the cause of this, and what should I do differently next time around? 2. I know it may be difficult to tell from where your sitting, but from what I have described, what will I likely need to replace? Thank you very much for your time and help, any advice is greatly appreciated cuz Im dying to run this thing! Thanks.

anyone have any advice???

Your speed control is smoked. You can send it in to Team Associated for repair if it is repairable. They can repair it or replace it for less than the cost off a new speedo. I will warn that they are backed up right now and may take several weeks to get you your repaired or new speedo back to you. I just received my replacement after 7 weeks there. As far as why this happened, your speedo you attempted to run with no sensor wire hooked up probably switched into brushed mode as it probably runs both brushless and brushed. You were then putting the wrong kind of power out through the power wires which shorted out you speedo thus "up in smoke". Same thing happened to me. Sensor wire came unplugged during a race, plugged it back in without turning off power, gave it gas and the wheels turned but smoked the speedo. Sorry for the long post, but hope it helps.

thanks very much for your reply, yea it was a brushed/brushless speedo so that must have been what happened. i really appreciate your help.

one more question, do i have to do anything like program my new esc or something when i install it? thanks.