4 Wheel Drive/SUVs: Toyota 4runner Meltdown!, toyota 4runner, hot wire

Question
Hi I have a 1989 toyota 4runner with a 3.0 v6.  I'm in the process of making it an all time mudding vehicle, it has 4-5 inches of lift and snorkeled.  I was riding through some pretty deep water the other day with a friend and the truck ended up stalling out, either the comp or distr getting wet.  My buddy pulled me out and we made the 2-3 mile ride home.  After sitting outside for a few minutes we saw my truck had caught on fire under the hood!  after finally putting the blazes out we saw that the entire distributor had melted down and along with it some of the vaccum boxes on the intake. I was wondering whether you had heard of distributors arcing out when wet and catching fire or whether it was the computer getting wet?  I have already purchased another used distributor and was just making sure it was ok to try out another or whether I should check out the computer.

Thanks
Brad

Answer
Brad,

This is a new one to me.  It doesn't sound like the computer or the distributor.  It sounds more like a positive/hot wire had shorted out directly to ground.  Try tracing out the burnt wiring, and see if there is an indication that a wire had been grounded.

Carl