What is the mechanism that keeps it closed ?

The thing will not stay up and there seems to be no reason why it should, there is no sign of what used to keep it up if something has broken off.

Is there a fix other than the inelegant strip of gaffer tape* that I use ?

*Purists will note that I used black tape to colour match the exterior of the car, I'm not a complete philistine.

I've spent a day removing sticky from the instrument/switch area, drink holder and ashtray parts so would like to finish the tidying up process.

There's a sprung black plastic roller catch that quite often gets broken by people pulling it too hard. Best best bet is to buy a fully functional one from a breakers. Try DA Motors as they specialise in them and do mail order - it's where I got mine and it's in very good condition.

Then look after it as a lot of them are broken! Ask them if they've got any mint condition cup holders at the same time, to complete the job

I can't see where any catch should be.
I've solved the problem with a couple of small magnets and a glue gun. The magnets are stuck on the back of the flap and grip onto the heads of the top fixing screws, not the most elegant solution but cheap, effective and invisible when the tray is closed..

Hi all

I bought a 2001 ELX JTD in April and the Ash Tray fascia was missing and it kept popping down too. I screwed a cable clip into the frame to keep it up but it was not a good looking job. I eventually found a breaker's spare ashtray/change/cup holder/cigar lighter unit on e-bay and it was quite easy to change. The left hand cigar lighter had the 180W max cover on and the rollers mentioned were both in place. Attached is the functioning unit being installed with various screws, one behind the cup holder. I got rid of the cup holder hinge screw as it was unnecessary and can just pop the holder out bow to sort through change.

The old unit is below. They seem to be quite rare so good luck!

Sorry if pics are wrong way round, apple does weird things to pics!

Oddly, mine started doing this the other day. It felt like something behind was just stopping it closing properly so the rubber roller stoppers wern't fully engaging. Turns out the 12v socket was slightly on the **** after I had pulled a phone charger out and this was interfering. I simply pushed the socket flush and it was sorted. Bizarre!