Rotten fish smell in fuse panel

[vasy]

04 Camry. I cranked the starter for about 2-3 seconds with the engine idling this morning. Drove this car for 3 separate trips during a 6-hour period. Nothing unusual. But after getting home and parking the car in the closed garage for an hour, I noticed a strong anchovy smell, or something foul. I traced the odor to the fuse panel next to the battery under the hood. The starter itself doesn't smell and is just lukewarm to the touch, same temp as surrounding engine components. I visually checked all fusible links in the fuse panel and they all looked intact. I would welcome any comments - what should I check before driving this car again? It did not smell like burning plastic. It definitely smelled like it's coming from a dead animal.

[BlackCamSe]

your cars having its period...no biggy. lol. Just look under the car and in the engine bay for dead animals. Maybe somthing got caught on ur exhaust under the car. I had a plastic bag melt on to my exhaust and it stunk like hell.

['02 XLE V6]

I had a Field Mouse crawl into my vent system last fall. It reached the cabin filter before it died. It smelled like hell for a day until I found it, removed it and replaced the filter.

[njerald]

Originally Posted by daragez

be careful when u smell something bad on your car.its deadly it might kill you if you got suppocate.always have a check up on your engines and the fuse panel.it might be the wiring too.

Still amazes me...............

[vasy]

I'm sure it's not a dead animal. It's been 24 hours since I noticed the smell and the car has been sitting in the garage since I first noticed the smell. With the hood up and plastic fuse panel lid removed all night, the smell has mostly gone. If I put my nose 2 inches away from the fuse panel I can just barely noticed the smell. We park this car in the same spot in our garage everyday, yesterday was the first time the odor showed up. If it was there before, there was no way it went unnoticed. I first suspected dead animal on the left front tire because that's where I first located the odor. No animal. After I opened the hood, the odor got much stronger in the battery area but it's not the battery. The voltage 24 hours ago (12.8 V) and this morning (12.75 V) did not suggest over-charging.

I read a post for another Japanese car make (Mitsubishi?) yesterday, the guy said if the car's ECU/ECM gets fried, it would smell like fish. My other car (09 Camry) has its ECU in the engine bay, right in front of the brake master cylinder. But I don't know where the ECU is in the 04 Camry (I4). Does anyone know? I doubt it's the ECU that's causing the odor. I tried to pull MIL code today but none was there. I need to drive this car tomorrow so I'll be careful - drive for 5-10 minutes and get out of the car to check for odor or smoke in the engine bay. If it never comes back, I'll just call it a bizarre incident.

[BlackCamSe]

The ECU on the 04 I4 is behinde the glove box. Next to the cabin filter. You cant miss it. If your ECU was fried, your car wouldnt start, at all.