Question about picking best wax gasket for toilet (specifically Toto)

bathroominstallationtoilet

I have a question about replacing wax gasket on a toilet. I hope my question is not too simple as this site is advertised as "serious DIY".My toilet is a Toto Aquia model ST464M, but I would think the question is applicable to most toilets? Although, be aware that with Toto you put a wax ring down and then cover with plastic cover. Toilet then goes on top of that. I.e. wax never touches toilet which I think is different than most brands.

I pulled by toilet up and replaced the wax seal. I put it all back together but then noticed small amount of water appearing at front of bowl. Clearly there is a problem. I think perhaps I used the wrong ring, or installed it incorrectly, or didn't place toilet down exactly right. Or some combination. I'm reasonably certain it's not leaking from the water input valve or the nuts/washers holding tank to bowl. If left alone with water input off, the tank water level will lower (perhaps 1/4" in 1 or 2 hours), and puddle will be present near front of toilet. This suggests to me a bad job of installing wax seal. Clearly I messed it up!

I'm new to working on toilets and my question is which wax ring should I use? Standard, or extra high. Or perhaps a non-wax one? Especially with my Toto model. Also, how do you know it's set right? That is, is there a good way to know that toilet is centered over hole and pushing down wax correctly? I'm lifting the toilet myself and placing it down. In the case of this Toto model there are some guide blocks on floor where toilet screws into.

I don't know if I'm seeing water because toilet is not centered over hole or if wax is insufficient to prevent leaking. How much tolerance is there for getting the horn of the toilet over the hole? Centimeters? Millimeters? Any suggestions how one man can do this?

Some more (possibly) relevant details. Floor is 12" x 12" tile. I'll try to post picture of how it looked when I took toilet off. Todo has a slightly different system for the wax ring. The wax ring is covered by a plastic piece and toilet goes on top of that.

Let me know if I can provide clarification/details.

Thanks,
Dave
View after removing toilet Wax ring is underneath this!

After unscrewing plastic and flipping upside down.  Notice was ring on underside

UPDATE

Based on comments by Jimmy I conducted the following test which clears a lot up (and leaves another mystery!).

I let toilet tank fill (turned on water). Turned off water. Added blue food coloring dye to tank. Waited about 1 hour. No color in bowl whatsoever, BUT Blue puddle on floor. Conclusion (as Jimmy suggested), wax gasket is not problem. It's leaking directly from tank. Not sure where… There is water in valve. There are 2 nuts/bolt attaching bowl to tank. There is center hole where flush valve goes and involves a big rubber gasket. I'm most suspicious of this. It was just loose. Not sure if it needs tape/putty etc. Will post picture. Or could be small hole in tank. It would have to be small. There's nothing obvious. Thanks all that are following this saga! And someone please reassure me that blue food coloring dye will not stain tile. Or my wife will be p1$$ed!.

CONCLUSION OF EPIC SAGA

Thank you everyone for all the brainstorming. I've got the toilet back up and working (and not leaking). It was definitely leaking from the tank, not the bowl as Jimmy and others suggested. For sure one of the problems was that it was leaking from the water input line and/or fill valve. I probably overtightened them, or I got a defective fill valve. The other two problems that I may have been guilty of were:

  1. Not seating the gasket that goes between bowl and tank correctly and/or not tightening the bolts between tank and bowl sufficiently.
  2. Not placing the flush valve in correctly (you need to turn it clockwise completely to seal).

I had the tank on/off more times than I care to admit, so I probably did all these things. And that might explain why I had trouble deciding where the leak was from! I think the water input line/fill valve was the main problem though.

Once it was pointed out how a toilet works and how to localize leak to tank (as opposed to bowl) it was only a matter of patience.

I thank everyone for their help and patience with me.

Best Answer

"If left alone with water input off, the tank water level will lower (perhaps 1/4" in 1 or 2 hours), and puddle will be present near front of toilet. This suggests to me a bad job of installing wax seal"

There is an important clue buried within your question. There is no water from the toilet present at the wax-ring seal except when flushing.

Your problem/leak had nothing to do with your wax ring!