i was driving back to my dorm from the gas station i started to faintly smell coolant, i turned into the road that leads to my complex and all of a sudden there was no steering and the car was shut off, i glided to the side of the road, ok so the car is dead and i knew my radiator was kinda going bad but kinda doubt this has anything to do with it, theres smoke coming from one of the accesories but just looked it over very birefly before starting to walk back any ideas? the car wasnt overheating either

 

Sounds like your water pump dumped on your opti-spark.

 

Could be your Water pump pi$$ed on your Opticrap.

Water leak = coolant smell
Engine quit= killed opticrap

Hope not.JMHO

 

should i try and start it back up and get it back to the dorm? 1-2 minute drive and also how much am i looking at in repairs

 

Definitely sounds like your waterpump. When mine went, the first thing I noticed was that the power steering wasn't responding very well. turns out the water pump ends up leaking on the bottom part of the serpentine belt that runs across the power steering pump, causing slippage.

If the car quit, this is probably due to moisture in the optispark. Sucks, but is very common. I was lucky and didn't get the opti wet when mine started leaking out the weep hole.

The easiest way to make sure that it is the water pump is to look under your car at the water pump. It's attached tot he block directly underneath the intake elbow. (If you've put in a 160 thermo, that's where it's attached to.) Underneath it is a small hole, the weep hole. Check to see if there's coolant everywhere. If there is -- water pump for sure.