Problem with MambaMax/Feigao 8L

I have an e-savage with a mamba max and feigao 8L running on 14 cells (4500mah elites). It had been perfectly fine for 10, maybe 15 runs. Well, not perfect, I melted 3 spurs and snapped 2 driveshafts, but thats another story.

It was going good when in the middle of a run it wouldnt start up after it came to a stop. It was all jerky, like it was out of radio range, which it wasnt. It was like it didnt have enough power to get rolling. If I picked it up it ran fine with the wheels off the ground. It also ran fine if I pushed it with my foot to get it going. I check the spur and pinion, they are fine. The drivetrain has no binds. The esc and motor were both very hot, hotter than normal. I thought it was a heat thing, or maybe a battery thing. I tried it once it was fully cool on 2 different sets of batteries and it did the same thing.

I just tried out the mamba with a 540 brushed motor on 7 cells. It wasnt in a car (dont have any more atm), just on the ground, but I ran it awhile and while the motor qot quite warm, as I expected, the esc didnt change temps at all. Which leads me to believe that it is the motor, althought I did check the leads and they are not broken. I dont know how else to test and dont have a hobby shop near me, and the ones I do go to occasionally dont know that much about brushless. I figured this would be the best place to get some answers. Let me know what you guys think.