Tub leak through ceiling

[Guest]

i have a steel tub, and it has rusted out around the trip lever. how do I fix this without putting in a new tub, which i cannot afford. It is leaking water into my kitchen under the base board. I have caulked it, but it doesn't seem to be holding in place very well. Is there an oversized trip lever plate that could be purchased?

[Verdeboy]

One thing you can try is to unscrew the trip lever plate and see if the rubber gasket is okay that forms a water-tight seal. You may need to replace that gasket.

The tub can only be repaired up to a point, so you'll need to post a picture so we can see how bad it has rusted out.

[Mike Swearingen]

A leak around an overflow will almost always be from the backside of the tub due to a dried out old gasket.
As advised, replace that and see if that doesn't solve the problem.
Good Luck.
Mike