Had a leaking flapper valve and a leaking fill valve, so decided to completely replace the guts in our old toilet. When removing the tank, I noticed that the flush gasket connection was packed with tons of putty. Well, I cleaned it all out and replaced all the insides and put it all back together. Super leakage at flush (seemed like half the tank ended up on the floor. So I looked at the situation and discovered that the original installation was made too close to the wall which forced the tank to tip forward:

http://www.frontiernet.net/~nylicens/tank.jpg

Naturally this forces the seal to uncover in the rear:

http://www.frontiernet.net/~nylicens/seal.jpg

I tried to moved the base as far forward as possible (I think it's at the limit anyway as the original installer did the same - in addition to cutting out some drywall behind the tank).
I can try to remove more of the wall behind the tank, but I'd like to avoid that option, and also moving the whole drain and base forward (really want to avoid that one!). What the original installer did was to load the whole seal area with tons of plumber's putty.

The new seal is made of plastic material and the plumber's putty I have specifically states to not use on plastic. What is the equivalent new material that can be used in place of plumber's putty on plastic seals??

Any help appreciated.

Best thing you can do is either pull the toilet and replace the floor flange with an off set flange or replace the toilet with a 10" rough in toilet, assuming you currently have a 12" rough in toilet.

hkstroud,

I rated you but it didn't go through, it says You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to hkstroud again.

Any how you have given excellent advice, Thanks.

John

Thanks John, just do what we can.

Best thing you can do is either pull the toilet and replace the floor flange with an off set flange or replace the toilet with a 10" rough in toilet, assuming you currently have a 12" rough in toilet.

That will be an option later when I get a plumber in to do a week's worth of work (rearrange roof drains in basement, new water heater in a different location, new drains in this particular bathroom, and new toilet). For the moment, I enlarged the wall opening (removed the horsehair plaster down to the lath and sealed it with plastic, and tried that. The lean of the tank is better, but leak is still there. I am now looking at various silicon sealants, but I may just use plumber's putty. Hopefully it won't affect the seal too quickly. I hope to have all this plumbing work done in 2 years time.

Silicone will give you a better seal.