Steam under the hood that smells like coolant- you have a leak somewhere. I would fill this thing up- put some dye in it an do a good old fashioned pressure test. If there is no leaks- then id move on to the thermostat- is it opening properly? When in doubt pull it out- put the thermostat in boiling hot water (see what it does). Another aspect to re-consider is that you put water into the cooling system things are going to happen- water boils when hot- when you have an improper mixture of water and coolant it changes the amount of heat that the fluid is going to absorb. It could boil and produce vapor which might = higher pressure then usual (the cap will vent if it is doing its job, or the overflow tank will fill) improper mixture also reduces lubrication to the coolant pump and could cause problems later on. Worst case scenario- improper mixture of coolant and water may freeze in extreme low ambient temperatures. Good luck to you- I hope you get it figured out! =D

Sweet, glad it was an easy fix!
Just realized I should have made this post like a month ago, I did not notice your reply was not made recently, until after I posted this, nonetheless I am glad it was an easy fix!

**UPDATE** not the thermostat. while doing laurens plugs the other night i smelled coolant. while i was wrestling to get the rear plug boots off, i noticed some water sitting on the rear of the transmission..... pink water. looks like ill be doing a lim replacement this spring. assuming it lasts that long. in the mean time, the car is running fine and has what seems like 20 extra HP after swapping out the 135k/almost 14 year old spark plugs with some E3'*.

It'* now a matter of when, not if. You are on borrowed time. And if the gasket decides to fail the other way, you will not know it happened until you notice a rod knock. Do not procrastinate with intake gasket leaks.

I am with Mike, this is not something you want to let go, if coolant gets sucked into those cylinders it is going to be bad, coolant does not compress like air, you can damage, or throw a connecting rod through the block easily.
In the least worst case scenario you hydra lock it, and have to immediately do the LIM job anyway, only now you are going to be checking compression, and hoping your rings and all other internals are fine, if not you will be spending more than you initially would have.