Fridge-what on earth has caused this?!

[Redruby2020]

Hi all, so I rent, fridge part of furnishings, I can tell you although it looks okay it will be old, probably here for a long while/elsewhere before that, and probably second hand, no issue with that. It wasn't in an awful state when I moved in, but I did have to clean it all out. I noticed when I was doing that, not a very nice smell, anyway once it was up and running it was okay, but made a lot of noise which I had checked, thought it could be unlevel, not been too bad since.
Anyway on Thursday as I closed the door something I had on top of the fridge(it's one of those tall ones with freezer at top, fell down the back, so I had to pull it out to get item back, I was wretching from the smell, wiped down the sides of fridge as they were dusty, and put it back in its place. And since then the same smell is now inside the main fridge area 🤮 I know it's not good food gone off, as it would of been like already, but have checked. Everything smells, not sure if it's just me but I'm sure I can taste it too. Don't know what to do, it's a strange smell in between like a strong garlicky smell to a moldy sort of smell. I have looked things up online and only found something to do with the 'drip tray' which apparently all or most fridges have that are around the back at the bottom, I hate to think if this fridge does have one, what it will be like 🤢 but either way, just wondering if by moving the fridge it has disrupted something.
Anyway sorry for long post, but any ideas or advice will be welcome.
Thankyou!

Did you look for the drip pan at the back? It could be full of mouldy water that has come from inside the fridge. If you look at the back inside the fridge there should be 2 little channels that lead to a hole and that's where the water in the drip pan comes from. It could be blocked too so stick a cotton bud down it to clean it out. Some fridges have a wee plastic stick to do this

@dementedpixie

Did you look for the drip pan at the back? It could be full of mouldy water that has come from inside the fridge. If you look at the back inside the fridge there should be 2 little channels that lead to a hole and that's where the water in the drip pan comes from. It could be blocked too so stick a cotton bud down it to clean it out. Some fridges have a wee plastic stick to do this

Omg @dementedpixie Thankyou so much for replying, I didn't expect many would reply as it's not the most interesting subject 🤣 and Saturday so people are usually busy. I didn't look initially no, I just thought oh gosh it's that horrible smell, I know inside near the bottom, like above the glass shelf that has the salad drawers, there is the rubber bungy thing, so assume now from what else I've read that is where the water goes through? What I can't understand is why from moving the fridge out the other day, that this smell is now everywhere 🥲 also I never cleaned any tray out in the past, didn't even know you should but certainly do know now lol. Oh god I am not looking forward to that, if I attempt it at all 🥺

Maybe you just dislodged the water and that caused the smell to escape.

I had to do this to my fridge this week. The hole to the drip tray was blocked, the kitchen had a musty smell especially first thing in the morning. I pulled the fridge out, cleaned underneath it and then emptied the drip tray at the back. It had smelly gunk in it. Cleaned it out and now it’s fine. It doesn’t need doing that often but when it’s bad, it’s really bad.

Thanks all, I done the terrible task on Saturday, it was nerve wracking lol pulling that tray out, as I'd seen pictures online 🤢 it did have stale water in it, which of course was disgusting and general dirt and muck build up. I'm sure some of it was deposits of mold. Cleaned it all out, was nice knowing that had been done actually. It did resonate a similar smell to what I was picking up from the inside, but I then also realised, I had forgotten about the garlic potato tray that I had opened 🤦‍♀️ you know these roastie kind of things, I had used some and covered the pack up to use another day, oh my god when I took that out it then became clear what the main problem was!

Hope you have a lovely fresh smelling fridge now

@dementedpixie

Hope you have a lovely fresh smelling fridge now

It's got better yes lol. Even sounds better since I moved it lol.