Can I DIY? Toilet randomly refills, constantly clogs

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Ttd8888

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Hi there,
I'm a city dweller, but I like to try to fix what I can. The toilet in my apartment has been troublesome for years, but now it's particularly bad, and my landlord isn't very helpful (he "sent someone" today; the toilet refilled 3x while I found this forum and wrote a post). I'm wondering if I should deal with this myself.

It used to just ring forever and clog occasionally. When I got tired of jiggling the handle last year, I bought a new fill valve. While I understood the general concept of installation, I disappointed to say the handyman had to install it in the end.

But now there's a new problem. It clogs constantly. I mean every flush or every other flush needs a plunger. It also refills at random.

The other day, it didn't appear to clog after a flush, but I got home from work about 14 hours later, and my floor was soaked. The bowl overflowed. The water was clear, at least.

I figure the refill issue means I need a new flapper. But the clogging? Should I buy an auger and deal with this myself? Should I demand my landlord and someone else out?
Thanks for your help!
 

Terry

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If the toilet clogs, you may want to run a closet auger through the trapway and see if you can clear that. A toilet that runs, and one that doesn't drain is not a good combination.
First make sure the bowl drains well.
It sounds like you have a bad flapper, allowing water to constantly drain into the bowl. Okay, maybe fixing the flapper is more important. You can't have water going into the bowl that isn't draining. You can take some food coloring, drop a bit in the tank, and see if any of that winds up in the bowl. If so, the flapper needs to be fixed or replaced. Replaced.
A picture of the inside of the tank will help us, help you.
 
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