The heat has to get to the ecm to damage it , the ecm itself is reliable. the stuff that plugs into it not so reliable,, PROMs ect..a short can zap an ecm quickly. are any wires looking like there was a short,is any wire melted looking a few inches away from the main meltdown, I,d go for the easy stuff first,check with ohms meter,if you can not find problem then examine wires that go into ecm, when there is a melt down all parts close to the fried or melted wire are suspect, check here first,,both haynes and chilton have diagnostic info,, any time you have serious electrical problem check major ground connections and positive .. check wires for continuous flow,, was a fuze burned ,was a fusible link fried ,,if a wire was shorted to frame or ground ecm could be damaged look at schematic of wires and check all that have juice to the burn area, this requires patience,, ecms are available new and rebuild,,you can purchase new proms ect.. this is area where you need experience electronic dude.. burning wires also create bad connections especially at places like module plug ins
[This message has been edited by uhlanstan (edited 10-21-2007).]