Toilet lid keeps falling

American Standard Toilet Lid Problem – Solved

American Standard Toilet Lid Problem – Solved

The customer complained that one of their bathroom toilet lids kept falling down.  This is a real problem for men.

I checked to see if the floor was level.  I was darn near level but had an ever so slight tilt backward which should have helped the lid to stay up.  It appeared to be a defective design.

The only identification is inside the water tank: American Standard 1112 tank, made in Mexico.  I suspect that this toilet came with the new home.

American Standard has a pretty awful score at Consumer Affairs web site.

The quick solution was to shim the tank backward a slight bit.  I used white heat shrink plastic tubing.  The top water tank rests upon a front and rear ridge.  I put the shim between the front ridge and the tank and then tightened the tank bolts.

In practice, this solution did work.  The customer had to make sure the toilet lid was firmly put up against the tank for it stay in place.  I now wished I had used a second plastic tubing shim.

Image shows a closeup of the tank resting upon a plastic tubing shim which has been placed upon the front base ridge.
This image shows the plastic shim in place before the tank is tightened down.

 

The image shows a side view and very close view of the toilet seat on the left in a up osition. In the center of the image shows the first tank ridge which the water tank rests upon. A red arrow points to where the shim was inserted before the tank was tightened. The bolt for mounting the tank can be seen. Near the right edge of the image is the rear tank mounting ridge.
This image shows the toilet seat placed in the up position as seen on the left side of the image. The red arrow points to the shim placed upon the forward ridge. The bowl bolt can be seen next as you view the image from left to right. At the very right edge of the image is the rear ridge which the water tank rests. The whole concept is to get the water tank to tilt backward slightly so when the lid is placed up, it will stay in place.

 

Revised April 7, 2018