I have a Waltec 12 2 handle bath tub assemble that is leaking from the spigot part. After disassembling the fixture I thought it would be a simple fix, just replace the O ring to stop the water from escaping. But doing that did not help. Looks like I'm going to have to replace the fixture.


My question is, what are those 2 thing below where the taps are? What is there purpose?

I have removed the cover on one of them in the photos.

 

After a little more thought and investigation I realized those two things below the taps were mostly likely water shut off valves. As you can see in this photo after I removed the black plastic cover. A few turns of the screw driver and I was able to shut off the running water.



The water only leaks when it is running thru the faucet. If I use the shower diverter it doesn't leak at the facet. Which makes me think that the diverter is not the problem.

I took a couple more photos of the faucet, showing that it is plastic on the bottom and where it is leaking from.



That cheap plastic housing seems to me to be the issue and not any of the taps or o rings. I guess my only option is to replace the whole assemble.

 

It looks as if the plastic is held up via a central screw. Can it be tightened? Is there an obvious crack in the plastic in the back of the outlet? Although obtrusive, those shut off valves are quite handy to have if you are doing work on the shower and don't want to turn the water off to the entire house.

 

There are no retaining screws. The plastic housing appears to be just glued in place with metal posts as guides. The glue has degraded over time and is not holding the front part of the housing in place as you can see in the close up photo below.



As per your advise I took a better, much closer look at the plastic housing and there is definitely a crack that was covered by the metal cover. Here is a nice close up of it.



I wonder if a little silicon would do the trick. Or perhaps some type of glue. Would be much cheaper than replacing it.