Well, I opened up my MMM and took a look, none of my bullets were touching the heatsink... I dont see it being a problem if only 1 bullet touches the heatsink, since the heatsink isn't conducting going to transfer the power elsewhere. If it were more than one that can definitely be a problem... As for the black stuff, I'm not sure where it came from or what it is but it's all over.

I had a similar issue with my lst. I ran it very near the lvc, and then stopped for lunch. Went back out to run it again and all it did was stutter when I tried to go full throttle. It would put around at 1/4 throttle but was not working well at all after that. I kinda have a feeling the lvc stayed at lunch that time... Luckily I was running good lipos, but they were pulled down low. I guess they did not like being warmed up and almost completely discharged, and then allowed to cool and loaded again. They needed and took a full charge when I put them on the hyperion. Not much out of balance though (go enerland, they can handle abuse!) I have no idea what was going on, but I am guessing after the lipo cooled the resistance was very high and it just did not have the juice leftoutput much...

Sounds like you may have some soldering issues. Are you using flux and decent solder? Do you have a good tip on the iron? Bad solder joints can cause all kinds of issues. I have had packs dragging behind my trucks at 50 mph (don't ask why) and the solder joints have held up. A hard landing should not cause them to come loose, and you need temps around 350-400f to get solder to flow. If your joints come loose and the solder looks like the dull side of tin foil you have a bad joint... Most likely using too much solder too.