What causes a ESC to malfunction?

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I have had my P2 about 18 months now but only done about 8 hours of flying with it. No crashes, no tip overs as I always hand catch. And no incidents. I did three flights at the end of March and everything was fine. Stored the P2 away and finally did three more flights two months later. But straightaway the rear motor was acting up with the prop twitching. I did hope it was just dust/grit/lack of use and indeed after a couple of attempts the motor seemed fine and flew ok. I did however fly much closer and lower than usual just in case. When I got home I ran the craft minus props and it seemed fine. But a few days later tried it out with the props back on and again that motor is twitching and now its LED is also going on and off and the motor tone changes. Clearly if this had happened in flight the craft would have tipped and crashed. Also I have noticed that one of the front motors RED LEDs does not come on with the motor until you at least give it more stick. And the other front LED has also started to go off! Sometimes three of the LEDS are off altogether. Though it is only the rear motor that is effected by this- the other motors perform correctly. Can a ESC just suddenly go off? As my craft has gone from fully functioning to faulty after a couple of months rest! I could understand it if I had had a crash or tip over or hard landing. Bit pissed off as Heliguy have quoted £40 just to look at the craft and including return costs. Plus labour and any parts they need to fit.
 
Sounds like it's a bad motor, not the ESC. If the motor draws too much current, then you can fry your ESC. I would try a motor replacement, or at least inspect that motor for debris or other damage. Does the motor hand spin freely like the other 3?
 
On the P2, ESC replacement is a pretty easy DIY job. I would swap motors temporarily to be sure it is the ESC.
Be glad it's not the P3. You would have to replace the entire main board with flight controller.
 
The affected motor turns smoothly by hand. And at the moment without a prop fitted runs ok. But once the prop is fitted stops and starts constantly now with the LED going off/flickering or varying in brightness. Today after running the Phantom without any props for a short while seems to stopped the front LEDs from not lighting up. And these are lighting correctly. But still wonder why they should have malfunctioned as well. Or can one faulty motor/ESC have an effect on all the others? When one motor or ESC fails does it seem likely the others will follow?
Is the P3 range more reliable in this area over the P2?
 

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