It's normally caused by dirty or loose contacts that control power to the electromagnet that holds the lever down against the spring. Just cleaning the contacts and/or bending them a bit so they make a better connection usually fixes it. But you have to get it apart, first, which is not difficult, but which this pointless choice by the manufacturer made more of a pain than it could have been.

One of the things brought to me was a toaster that wouldn't stay "down", but otherwise worked fine. This is a semi-common problem - I had another #toaster with the same problem at the last Repair Cafe.

And this one... the manufacturer secured the bottom base to the chassis with Torx screws (fine) ... but SECURITY Torx screws. If you're not familiar with these, they're regular Torx screws but there's a pin that sticks up in the middle of the fastener head, so regular #Torx drivers won't go into the head. You need special #drivers with a hollow bit to go over that pin.

Now, I have "security" Torx drivers because fuck you, you don't get to lock me out of something that belongs to me [1], but this is ridiculous. It's a CDN$40 two-slot toaster, not some #unobtainium magic technological wonder. It's one great "Up yours!" from the #manufacturer to the #consumer and the #environment.

Name-and-shame time: it was a Black and Decker (they can pay me if they want me to use their vanity typography to refer to them). This is another of those brand names that maybe used to mean something, but now is just marketing. There are a *lot* fewer #factories making toasters than there are brands selling toasters. They just tick boxes on an #OEM's feature list to get "their" product.

[1] It's easy to get the drivers these days, so they don't have much effect, but when they first came about almost no one had them, so it was a major pain in the ass.

#BlackAndDecker #VanityTypography

Agreed, but I'm there to volunteer, not make moral judgments. If it's any consolation, I told the fellow I wasn't comfortable removing the cylinder head to try to get the shell apart, because I was afraid I'd damage a gasket or similar. It was bad enough that I had to take the carburetor off. We pointed him to an independent and reasonably-priced small-engine guy.