This is a very helpful video to know what to expect when doing this repair. We had a leaky toilet and the cause was the bottom of the canister was missing two of three plastic tabs, and the gasket was corroded. Likely due to years of use. It was no longer able to seat properly and form a watertight seal. I decided to replace the fill valve, too, while I was at it to just sort it out entirely for years to come. One thing I noticed about the replacement flush canister was that the 'freeboard' (height from bottom of toilet to where water will spill in to the bowl for the flush) is much higher on the replacement valve. 1/4" on the old canister, 1" on the new one. This means less water per flush. I am not sure if I purchased the wrong part, or if Kohler has changed the design. This seems to be the part fo my model of toilet. I'm not happy with the less powerful flush. I could not reuse the plastic part with the lower height because that was the part that was broken. The dish soap as lubricant did not work. But I came back to these comments and found the tip suggesting olive oil. This did the trick almost immediately. This leads me to believe that squeezing the gasket isn't the difficulty, but rotating the part is the challenge. I also folded up a towel between me and the plastic so I could put my full weight pressing down on the plastic to squeeze the gasket so the part would rotate without hurting my hand. After everything was installed it took me quite a few flushes, and adjustments to the new fill valve, to get the water to the right height on the refill of the tank. As a DIY fix, it was pretty easy to accomplish. This video will show you what to expect and how to manage it.

Your video helped me a lot. Thank you very much Fred. Do you have the parts or link of the parts you ordered in amazon? It is unreadable the tank number. Your toilet is the same as mine. Thanks again.

I didn't know how far to twist the gasket holder before trying to pull it out. I may have broken two of the triangular tabs, or they might have already been broken. But, what a cheap piece of breakable plastic to use on such an important part of the system. I'm first trying Loctite plastic bonder on the two broken tabs to see if they will hold. Otherwise, I wait a few weeks without a toilet for the part from Kohler.

Thank you for making this video. Just ordered the parts from Amazon and they are actually arriving today.

Is there a link to that part that's difficult to put in at the bottom? I keep ordering the wrong part

In the center of that canister, is there supposed to be a screw that holds It in? Mine has one and it rusted and broke and now my whole canister doesn't fall back into place after flushing

I just got a kohler 2 piece with a canister flush and man i love it compared to the flapper it replaced.

Link to the parts please

Excellent !

Plumbers grease might not be good for the gasket

This a great video and super helpful! Thank you so much for taking the time to put this out there for those of us technically challenged people 🙂

Your toilet model is actually 3810. I have the same one. Just ordered the parts and thanks again!

Thank you so much for this. Mine just started acting up, and i noticed that the whole damn canister lifts up and off the bottom of the toilet tank. It's missing 2 of the 3 tabs, which I'm not sure how that even happens. So I'll verify toilet model number as per your instructions here, order the parts and get it done. Thanks again for this video. I couldn't find any other video on doing the 1-piece toilet. All others are/were the 2-piece setup. Thanks again!

Thanks for your video. Just a tip for anyone replacing this unit and having trouble with the base/gasket. You must take off the upper cylinder portion or you will never be able to get enough leverage to flatten out the gasket where it meets the bottom of the toilet tank. If you turn the whole unit upside down, you'll see a middle tab holding together the upper and lower pieces. Turn the upper middle part 90 degrees so the tab can disconnect from the base/gasket. Using silicone plumber's grease (Amazon for less than $5), make a bead all around the bottom of the gasket and then spread it with your finger so the entire bottom of the gasket is covered. You do not need dish soap as per the instructions. Line up the tabs of the base so they fit inside the tank opening at the bottom (mine is triangle shaped). Now the important part - put your hand palm down across the top of the base unit and press straight down with all your body weight. While pressing down as hard as you can, try turning it to lock the tabs underneath the ceramic tank bottom. I was able to do this rather quickly, which surprised me given all of the horror story posts. Once seated, line up the tab from the top portion that you disconnected earlier, insert, and turn 90 degrees so it locks. connect the chain to the flush lever and you should be good to go. Really must push down with your whole palm or it will not work. I tried grabbing it around the edges and just could not get enough downward pressure to compress the gasket. Good luck and happy flushes!

Thank you Fred

Thanks for the video. All the tabs were missing on mine. I wonder what causes that.

Fred, thank you for the video. You made putting in the base look so easy, just a little plumbers grease, twist and snap in place. Well you are a very lucky man. The only plumber I know who has faced this problem said after trying for an hour, he just replaced the toilet. I worked on mine an hour before I called Kohler, their tech said everyone has a hard time and his only suggestion was soak the gasket to make it softer then use dish soap to make it slippery.

Your video is the only one I found showing how to replace the canister base. A lot of people have trouble with this as I discovered in chat groups. Even the instructions that come with the kit says the base replacement is difficult. I replaced the base because all three "tabs" were broken off. I found one of them in the water passage just below the canister. I ended up making a tool so I could push down and turn at the same time. I lubricated the base and gasket with olive oil. I was just about to give up when the base finally snapped into position. Thank you for the video.

This video is so helpful. Thank you so much. But I have a tough time locking in the gasket at the bottom. Where do you put the Plumber's grease?

super helpful. could not find the right part but looks like what i need. need to replace flush valve for one piece gabrielle toilet. the bottom triangle part that locks under the tank snapped off on my old one, so the whole thing tipped over and can't hold water in the tank.

My problem is ghost flushes. Do I have to replace all of this?

This helped me, all I needed to replace was the main part of the middle cannister. The seal was almost all gone and the top yellow piece was broken off. Thank you.