I went through two escs the other day and the only thing I van visibly find on anything electric is a lead on my transponder is loose and looks to be touching. Could that take out a esc?

That could be one explanation. What do you mean exactly "touching"? The transponder is only using positive and negative off the receiver. You mean the two wires touching each other?

If those wires short, that short goes all the way back to the BEC inside the ESC. If that happens the ESC would power on, but won't power the receiver and therefore won't work. You could try powering the receiver with a 6v battery, but you'd need to disconnect the positive wire from the ESC. You do this by removing it from the plastic connector and to be safe, wrap it in tape.

Yea the black was pulled out and touching the red. I sent in the esc So we will see.

yes, if the two wires of your transponder (or anything else connected to the receiver and back to ESC) are touching you can most certainly short the ESC .