somehow I lost a ton of coolant and didn't know it and I ran my truck and the temp gauge never got high, which I later found out was because there was no water in the top half of the block, it was so low it couldn't pump up that high.
I smelled something and got home and it was steaming and spraying out the bottom somewhere, impossible to tell because of all the steam.
I've replaced some hoses that I thought were the culprits, but now it appears that plate on the rear of the water pump is dripping. I can barely see but the area it drips from now has got to be that.
Does that sound like a good possibility?
After I shut off the motor steam was jetting out of one spot somewhere around that area for a good 10 minutes, I couldn't tell exactly from where because if I tried to feel the location it would burn too much to keep my hand there.

I wonder now if I damaged the heads since they were basically totally empty of water. I tested my thermo and it works fine, I think it was so low the temp sensor and thermo didn't get hot because no water touched them.