It is possible that the leaky pipe was causing a low pressure issue, and when it was fixed normal pressure returned and has forced debris in the pipes in to your washing machine. That wouldn't account for the grinding noise however.
The grinding noise could have been something sitting under the agitator and was causing the motor to work extra hard to do the same job. Now it has probably burned the motor out, or burned a circuit board. Where is the smell coming from, up the top where the knobs are or down the bottom?
There are more informed people on here than I, and I am just helping by getting that extra info for them to diagnose it better :)