bathroom talk - help with my commode

[mrbigstuff]

thanks, folks. I believe MB and Psurfer have hit it right on. In fact, Psurfer, it sounds like we have the same problem but I have a chain on my valve vs. the rod (again, insert joke here).

'fil, I did try the food coloring trick and noticed the faulty valve that way.

does an improvement exist for this? it's pretty Neanderthal stuff, this toilet tech.