Welcome to the forum. Before you go any further, refit the thermostat covers ( no EFI motor should ever be run without thermostats, as Chalk said ) without the thermostats but leave the intake off. Remove the lower unit and fit a garden hose to the water tube going up to the power head from the water pump. Force water up into the motor and get a flashlight and try and see by looking down behind the inlet manifolds where the water is leaking from, it's a lot easier to do this whilst the intake is off. Let me know what you see.
Thank you for the quick replies, I thought about trying to get the water up thru the power head as you mentioned, but these motors only have a skinny water hose line I believe, not a tube like my old evinrudes had. I'm heading out now to pull the LU and have a look. Thanks