I also would pull a hose from a riser and see if it will pump into a bucket. There should be a Merc spec for that flow rate but any good stream would likely be fine. If not, look for a blockage at inside and exterior (thickly painted over?) intake strainers, oil & trans. coolers & H/ex. and maybe try backflushing each section into a bucket to check. Was there noticeable flow before the riser replacement? If you check the impeller and it looks to be intact and hose clamps upstream are tight so it's not drawing air, you might try starting the engine and at <1000rpm closing the intake seacock for maybe 5 seconds then abruptly opening the seacock . Sometimes that can build enough suction for good draw and the sudden water pressure can knock a lot of gomph out through the system that can be seen as a brief black cloud in the exhaust water.
Has any work been done on the water pump recently that could possibly have allowed hoses to be reattached to the wrong sides of the pump, inlet vs outlet?
Not sure at all , but I'd ..think... even with Merc which had 1/2 FWC systems in the past, a FWC 6.2L MPI would be full FWC so the only hole in the ss blockoff plate between manifold and riser would be for exhaust. Any water passage holes in the gaskets shouldn't matter. . But it's a good question as to whether it definitely is full-FWC or just 1/2 FWC and that was never answered when asked above. Only that it is FWC with closed cooling system which could be either.
Has any work been done on the water pump recently that could possibly have allowed hoses to be reattached to the wrong sides of the pump, inlet vs outlet?
Not sure at all , but I'd ..think... even with Merc which had 1/2 FWC systems in the past, a FWC 6.2L MPI would be full FWC so the only hole in the ss blockoff plate between manifold and riser would be for exhaust. Any water passage holes in the gaskets shouldn't matter. . But it's a good question as to whether it definitely is full-FWC or just 1/2 FWC and that was never answered when asked above. Only that it is FWC with closed cooling system which could be either.