Toilets, Sinks, Showers, Tubs and Disposals - Strange Toilet Problem

Hey all -
I'm glad I found this place. I have a pretty strange situation regarding my toilet. I am a college student, currently renting a house in my college town. The house is pretty old, and I have no idea as to the age or past treatment of the toilet. When I moved in about 10 months ago it worked fine. Recently (in the last month) It started exhibiting problems when flushed.

1. The bowl does not empty completely, or flush entirely, sometimes it took 2 or 3 flushes.

2. The refill tank in back is VERY slow to refill. Strangely enough, if I turn on the shower faucet briefly (about 1 second) the water inside the refill tank bubbles and fills up at the normal rate.

3. If I hold the flush handle down, it tends to flush more completely, but still doesn't flush all the way.

It's got the newer setup, without the float ball. The float is actually attached on a vertical arm. The toilet doesn't keep running when filled, but if I don't turn on my shower faucet, it takes the better part of a half an hour to fill completely.

Any thoughts as to what could be wrong? The water pressure in the rest of the house seems to be fine, but it seems to be missing from this toilet until I turn on the shower faucet. Thanks in advance!

The draining problem could be related to a stopped up vent pipe, which would require a road trip to the roof and a chugging party with a garden hose to clear the clog. Be careful, as it isn't the fall, but the sudden stop. It should be the responsibility of the landlord, anyway.
The Fluidmaster fill valve has a rounded cap on top of the vertical piece. turn the water off at the cut off valve under the tank. Remove the cap and, holding the vertical arm firmly, twist the lever part 1/8th turn CCW. It will come off revealing a bunch of crud in the pipe. Invert a cup over the vertical pipe and turn the water on for a few seconds to back wash the valve. Reinstall the lever part and cap, turn the water on and see what happens. Post back and let us know if it works or not.

I'm waiting for post back so i can add comments! It is no fair Chandler gets to have all the fun. :(

lol...CSG....too funny :D

Welcome to the DoItYourself.com forums rwberinger :)

I don't mean to butt-in, but my main concern, and the 1 big thing I read in your post was that you are "renting". If anything, I would definitely ask the landlord to fix the problem. Not that you can't handle it, nor that the guys here can't help, but I wouldn't want you to have to be responsible for anything. Unless, of course, the landlord says it's your problem...?

Mention was made of flushing out a Fluidmaster ballcock.Under the mentioned cap you will also find a gasket like rubber item.It would be a good idea to replace it while you have the unit open.They are available anywhere Fluidmasters are sold.That is assuming your ballcock IS a Fluidmaster.Also if the unit is a orange/brownish color it is an older version of the ballcock(would say model 200A likely) and the seperation/flushing out/gasket point is much lower at a noticible joint around 3/4 down the unit.

For that matter...a Fluidmaster only costs $7 at home depot. Could replace the whole thing as easily as popping the top off...plus you don't have to worry whether or not u got it back together properly and the top blowing off 1 day :)

Wow thanks for all the responses guys, and sorry I haven't gotten back to you. It's finals week so I've been buried. I haven't even had a chance to attempt to try anything you suggested. I may make an attempt this weekend. I will, however, check the lease to see if the landlord is responsible. Excellent call on that! Anyway, as soon as I get to it I'll let you know how it goes.

Hey all -
Just giving you an update, I replaced the whole flowmaster aparatus and that seemed to fix it. It was a pretty east $8 repair. Guess it did have something to do with the refill valve. Thanks for all your help!

Glad it all worked out, even if CSG was right!

I guess i can stop posting till 2008 now...i got my 1 for the year right. :)

But i got a new toilet problem i ran into the other day i'll make a post about. I spent 4 hours working on it till i figured it out :)

There's no right or wrong when you are guessing like we have to do sometime. Too bad toilets aren't made of a clear material so you can see inside them.