How to Fix a leaky toilet - Part 3

Once The Cistern is removed from the pan you will see that the flush mechanism has a threaded section which passes thru the toilet cistern and is fixed by a plastic threaded collar and 2 rubber washers. If these washers were perished then the cistern would probably leak " externally" ie. onto the bathroom floor – which is not the case here (actually this would largely depend on the seal between the cistern or the pan).

Anyway, we unscrew the plastic collar ( it may need a light tap with the hammer if it has a lot of lime-scale as is the case here , no need to go crazy a few light taps should do it) and remove the old , leaky , flush mechanism from the cistern.

Once the flush mechanism is out of the cistern we can see what is causing the toilet to leak. The main seal on the flush mechanism is badly perished (see photo) and because of this doesn't seal , causing a continuous leak into the toilet.

At this point if you just want to fix the leaking toilet you could just clean everything up , replace this seal and put everything back together. However for the reasons mentioned earlier, I've decided, rather than just repair the leak , to update to a double flush system to save water, and in the long term money (and the planet !!)