HELP ! Can a bad sensor pack smoke an ESC ?

Hello , I have a Ballistic 4.5t 550 motor and have been running it for a few races , I first ran it on a Havok Pro 2s ESCcame loose on the motors shaft so I bought a Ballistic (Bought the Havok Pro/HV 4.5T combo from Nitrohouse but the magnet came loose on the motors shaft so I bought a Ballistic so I could keep racing) and it ran awesome for about 5 months (just past the warrantee date) when it just smoked for no apparent reason .

I sent it in too Novak and paid 89 dollars to upgrade too the Havok Pro SC ESC , got it and installed it (made sure my wiring was correct) and switched it on . Pulled the trigger too see if it was working and immediately smoke started too come out of it !

Could a bad sensor pack on the motor cause the ESC too smoke like that ? The motor isnt that old (maybe 3 months) and has NEVER been over heated .

The motor works fine on the Mamba Max Pro I have in my truck now but I want to go back too the Novak ESC's as I think the motor ran better on the Havok Pro 2s before it died .

Is there a way too test the motor to make sure everything is ok with it ? I dont want too smoke another ESC if the motor is damaged in some way I cannot tell .