MrDoh
New Member
I have a Toto Ultramax toilet that has been okay over the years. Replaced the fill valve, that's about it. Recently the trip lever on it broke, and the toilet couldn't be flushed (of course). So I got a new trip lever, installed it, and it was great for a couple of days. Nice easy flush cycle, easy push on the handle, and then the handle popped up and the fill cycle began. All good.
Now, the handle goes down fine to start the flush, and the flapper valve inside comes up. But then the handle doesn't return to it's original position, stays down, so the flapper valve doesn't fully close unless I manually raise the handle back to horizontal (the original position). When I look inside, it appears that the trip lever isn't dropping as far as it did when I installed the replacement, and I can push on it a little and it drops, which allows the flapper valve to finally seat properly.
I've experimented with the chain length, about the only thing that there is to do, and tried lengthening it to allow the flapper valve to seat properly and start the tank fill after emptying. That doesn't seem to help, if anything makes the problem worse, since with the chain longer it's harder to get the flush cycle to start.
It's almost like the trip lever mechanism needs lubrication so that it will drop back to where it's supposed to go so that the flapper valve seats and the tank actually starts to fill. But I wanted to ask people who know more than I do (most people do *smile*) if there's something else that I can do to get the trip lever to drop to where it was when I did the replacement. It bothers me that it worked right immediately after the replacement, and just a couple of days later seems to be sticking.
If it could be remedied with lubrication, what's the recommended method? Spray WD40 into the mechanism with it still in place? Or remove the trip lever and lubricate it? And what's the recommended lubricant? I know that WD40 isn't really a lubricant, it's a solvent that just cleans parts that slide against each other. So I'm wondering what people use for this sort of thing.
There is one other thing, there are 3 holes on the trip lever for the chain that attaches to the flapper, and I'm using the hole that's farthest from the handle itself. That's the hole that was being used on the original trip lever, but I'm wondering if one of the other holes might work better? Any advice there?
Thanks!
Now, the handle goes down fine to start the flush, and the flapper valve inside comes up. But then the handle doesn't return to it's original position, stays down, so the flapper valve doesn't fully close unless I manually raise the handle back to horizontal (the original position). When I look inside, it appears that the trip lever isn't dropping as far as it did when I installed the replacement, and I can push on it a little and it drops, which allows the flapper valve to finally seat properly.
I've experimented with the chain length, about the only thing that there is to do, and tried lengthening it to allow the flapper valve to seat properly and start the tank fill after emptying. That doesn't seem to help, if anything makes the problem worse, since with the chain longer it's harder to get the flush cycle to start.
It's almost like the trip lever mechanism needs lubrication so that it will drop back to where it's supposed to go so that the flapper valve seats and the tank actually starts to fill. But I wanted to ask people who know more than I do (most people do *smile*) if there's something else that I can do to get the trip lever to drop to where it was when I did the replacement. It bothers me that it worked right immediately after the replacement, and just a couple of days later seems to be sticking.
If it could be remedied with lubrication, what's the recommended method? Spray WD40 into the mechanism with it still in place? Or remove the trip lever and lubricate it? And what's the recommended lubricant? I know that WD40 isn't really a lubricant, it's a solvent that just cleans parts that slide against each other. So I'm wondering what people use for this sort of thing.
There is one other thing, there are 3 holes on the trip lever for the chain that attaches to the flapper, and I'm using the hole that's farthest from the handle itself. That's the hole that was being used on the original trip lever, but I'm wondering if one of the other holes might work better? Any advice there?
Thanks!
