On Fri, 18 Mar 2016 14:30:59 -0700 (PDT), Andy
wrote:

On Friday, March 18, 2016 at 3:55:07 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Inside my toilet tank, the overflow pipe, which is a very thin plastic
tube, broke off at the base. The toilet was "running", I replaced the
flapper and it continued to run. Whole working in that tank, I noticed
that this overflow pipe was crooked and when I touched it, it moved.

Immediately, I checked it, and found a crack at the base of it. A little
hand pressure and it cracked right off. That crack is where the water
was leaking, NOT at the flapper.

While replacing the whole flapper drain assembly is not a major repair,
it does mean the tank has to be removed from the toilet base, and most
of the time the bolts are corroded and can not just be unscrewed. Too
much pressure applied to them, and the tank will break. So, that means
it's usually a matter to saw off those bolts with a sawsall metal
cutting blade, or by hand with a hacksaw blade. (Either way, it's a pain
in the ass job).

I use a chisel to get those &*$ bolts out.

That's a good way to break the tank.....

It should be a law that those bolts be stainless steel. :-)

I fully agree....


Andy

I once tried to drill the heads off the bolts, but the drill did not fit
in the tank because of all the plumbing stuff inside. I was going to go
buy a drill bit extension, about a foot long, but I decided to just get
out the sawsall, and saw them between the tank and base. That works as
long as the toilet is not too close to a wall or cabinet. Taking off the
toilet seat makes it easier to get the sawsall in there, but sometimes
those seat bolts need to be sawed off too. (Although most are plastic
now-a-days).