On 24-Jun-2005, "Al" wrote:


It looks like I have a leak somewhere. The back of the tank fills, then
empties itself,
the fills again... this is a fast one.

Any tips on how to isolate the leak? I am so hoping it is INSIDE the
toilet
and
not OUTSIDE in the pipes!

Thanks for any advice

I'll assume that it's not leaking all over the floor or you'd of mentioned
that so it's not the tank bolts.
So it's most likely the donut between the tank and the bowl. These things
kind of disintegrate over time, the rubber gets to the point where it rubs
off on your finger. That will cause the tank to slowly leak into the bowl
which just slowly overflows down the drain without causing the siphon
effect. In the tank the water level goes down to the point that the tank
valve opens up and causes the tank to refill. Sound like what's happening?

Replacing the donut is fairly straightforward although the tank bolts have a
tendency to get very corroded and can sometimes be a bear to remove. WD-40
helps a lot here. I've had to drill and hacksaw them off before.

If you're going to be a diy'er in your new home it's worth getting a book or
three on basic home repair topics. One on plumbing will have instructions
on replacing this.

You can get a kit for replacing this at the despot for about $15 and it has
pretty good instructions with it.

good luck
ml