On Mon, 05 Nov 2007 05:48:51 GMT, "
wrote:

In one of the toilet tanks in my house, the heads of the bolts in the tank
look all rusty and deformed. They looked that way 3 years ago when I moved
in here, and haven't leaked yet.

Since nothing is leaking, I'm just wondering if I need to address this, or
should I leave well enough alone. Since my female friend moved out, nobody
is using the toilet on a regular basis.

FYI: This toilet is a Gerber. Replacement of the tank bolts looks like it
would involve removing the entire tank, because there are hex nuts attached
to the bolts at the bottom of the tank. The nut is between the bottom of
the tank and bowl. At the very tail end of the bolts are wing nuts. In
other words, it looks like, to access the hex nut, this would involve
unscrewing the wing nuts and lifting the entire tank, unless there are tools
thin enough to reach the hex nut. Do any such tools exist? The gap is very
small. Another issue is that the heads of the bolts appear to be so
deformed that there isn't any slot remaining to stick a screwdriver.
Should I leave well enough alone if it's not leaking?

Thanks,

J.

Personally I wouldn't disturb it but I don't see any harm in trying to
drain the tank so that it can be dry around the bolts and then spray
some rust inhibitor and let it soak for a couple of days before
refillng the tank. Maybe it would work, maybe not but this way you
aren't disturbing the seal unless the rust is helping??

Once I had to saw off a bolt that was on the bottom of the tank
holding the guts in place and used a hacksaw (straight handle type) to
get into a cramped area. The bolt and nut were plastic and too tight
and when I tried to use various pliers it was stripping the nut so
cutting the bolt was my only remaining option. It worked and then the
rest of the job was easy. At first I dreaded the job because I didn't
know what to do but with a little thought and the right tool, it
wasn't so bad.