My ashtray didn't wanna stay closed either. I took the whole thing out and was too stupid to figure out how it worked. However, I never use it so I figured out a way to keep it closed so it looks normal but doesn't pop open like it used to. There's a metal "coil" / "spring" that pops it open but was also keeping it from closing completely. If you remove that, it goes in and just sits there. Obviously it doesn't "pop" like it used to but to open it, you just open the cover of the lighter and pull it.