Toilets, Sinks, Showers, Tubs and Disposals - Leaky Tub Knob? Help - Please

I'm new to the site, and to plumbing repairs, but am real impressed by all the good advice I've read so far and was hoping someone can help me with my leaky tub.

I'm trying to rid my bathroom tub of it's leaky faucet. I changed the washers and the seats of both the hot and cold knobs. While the leak/drip seems much improved (doesn't leak as much), it still drips.

I think the source of the problem is the hot water pipe - which has a steady trickle of water coming out through the seat (when the stem is removed) even when the main water supply in the house is turned off.

Can anyone help me with this?

Your title says it is leaking at the knob. Is it leaking there or out the spout? If out the knob area, you need to replace the stem packing as well as the other washers you replaced. It will look like coated string, either gray or white. remove the stem, pull the collar back, make a couple of wraps around the stem with the string and replace it, firmly attaching the collar nut. It will crush around the string and form a seal. If it is still leaking out the spout, you may have a seat problem, rather than a washer problem, meaning you will need to resurface the seats with a special tool. Take the cartridges out and look into the tube and see if there are any burrs, cracks, etc on the seat.

First, thanks a lot for your response!

When I have the stem on, with the new washers and the new seats, there is no leak from the knob (everything there seems dry), there is a leak from the tub spout. It's a lot better now than it was before I replaced the washers and seats, it just leaks a very little from the spout (when I turn the diverter to the shower, the leak is even less - if that helps any?)

What I meant by a knob leak, is there is a steady "trickle" of water coming from where the seat & stem screw into. Even with the water supply turned off. That shouldn't be happening should it? Especially with the water off?

When I put everything back on, everything seems dry around and under the stem.

The reason I listed my problem as a leaky knob, is because I thought whatever is behind that water coming out might be responsible for the spout leaking.

Does any of this make any sense?

It does sound as if you have a damaged or scratched seat. It can be corrected with a seat grinding tool (very inexpensive) found at most hardware or big box stores. Remove the stem and insert this tool and regrind the smoothness back into the seat. Inspect the seat to make sure there is no crack in the brass, however.

Larry, thanks again for your time. I'll definitely give that a try... but I just bought new seats and put them in, so they're nice and smooth (and shiny :)). The old ones were all rough.

Would a bad seat be why water is running out of that pipe when I have that new (or old) seats on or off? -Even when the main water supply is turned off? Should a good seat be stopping that water from coming out, wether the washer and stem is in or out?