The toilet bowl will not stay full. I slowly leaks out until there is just a little bit of water in the bottom. If I hold the handle down just a little I can fill it up but then it slowly leaks out again. What gives?

Hi olalla

Located at bottom of tank is a flapper. This is not closing and may have to be replaced.

When u push the flush lever down, it moves an arm inside of tank that is attached to flapper lifting it up to release water for flushing.

After water leaves tank, flapper closes and holds fresh water in tank.

Good luck

Chuck

Chuck, Go back and read the complaint. It's the bowl that's losing water not the tank.

Olalla, There could be a factory defect in the bowl. Sometimes in casting the bowl there is a small bubble in the china. Instead of junking the bowl the manufacture will put a porcelain patch over the hole and send it on through. On occasion the patch will fail allowing the water to seep out of the bowl. If that's the case you would have a full bowl after you flushed and the bowl filled but some time later you would notice a drop in the bowl level. The only other thing might be if you dropped something in the bowl and cracked it. If you're worried about where the water's going, in both cases it drains back down into the sewer and not under the bowl on the floor. To check the bowl must be pulled, filled and put up on saw horses. You can then see if there's any leakage from the bowl.
Sometimes a blocked vent can "vacuum" water out of a bowl. Does the level "bounce" up and down? Let me know if it bounces. Good luck, Tom

Tom nailed it. At this point you will most likely have to replace the bowl or complete toilet.

Do you have pets? ( I used to wonder why my toilet bowl was out of water, until I caught my dog drinking it dry, lol, since then I have found this to be the reason for many low bowl water level calls.)

But please do answer speedballs last question about the bouncing water level in bowl, this would deffinately suggest vent problems.

May I ask what brand is the toilet?
Reason is I have seen weep holes in the base and it did run on the floor, but with the toilet caulked it took a long time to show up.

How old is the toilet?

The last defective toilet I replaced was a Jaccuzzi brand .
Tom is on the money with pulling it and putting it on a set of horses to see exactly where its leaking. Use some water coloring dye and it will help see what's going on.

Sorry guys

Did misread the post.

Chuck