Toyota Repair: 1993 toyota camry, jumper wire, toyota camry

Question
my wife bought a used 1993 camry from a guy and we've been having alot of problems with it. one thing i've found is the y pipe before the catalytic converter is split and there is a strong odor of fuel. would this be coming from that exhaust leak? also there is a jumper wire someone put on the (i think)ECU. ?(is it a silver metal thin box under/behind the glove box ?)it's hooked to the thin black with orange stripe wire that's on the top plug pass side 2nd wire down... can you tell me why he might of put it there. also my wife said it
(the car)just dies on her when she's driving it sometimes and its been using a large amount of gas. it used 1/2 a tank on a hour drive...

Answer
Well, it sounds like you bought a car with some problems, obviously the exhaust pipe needs to be fixed/replaced and yes the smell can be coming from there although using that much gas in an hour seems excessive, I have absolutely no idea what that wire is for unless someone added it as a bypass wire for a wire that has an open circuit, does the wire go anywhere?. When turning the key to the ON position does the "check engine" symbol on the dash light up then go off after the engine starts>