The silver shifter that moves the gears down is not returning to it's natural position after shifting. This means i'm having to push it back in to position after shifting. It feels like it couyld do with some lube to help free it up but i'm not sure where to start. What i don't want to do is toi take it apart as the last time i did it it was impossible to put it back together. Any ideas?

same here

Internal Springs are prone to breaking and was told they could not be replaced etc . After having to replace 2 shifters at £45 a piece I went back to XT!

Is it getting caught under the black clicky lever, mine used to until a fixed the design fault with a file. If its broken inside then its a spring snapped. I take it it shifts down ok on hte black lever, but on the upshift silver lever the lever stays under the brake blade?
If this is the case then its the lower spring, it might be full of crud as its wound around the bottom of the stack. If you do dismantle it go slow and have a digi camera ready.
Thye do turn to zebedee once the covers are off. I have some spares as i crash alot and brake the monkey metal stick that links the top and bottom halfs of the internals.
If you take it to bits and need the spring then mail me ( addy in profile ) and i might be able to help , for a small donation to HFH

STM

Had the same thing recently. In the end I had to buy a new shifter but kept it going an extra 6 months by getting some lube in there. The only disassembly you can do without spending 2 days trying to put it back together is to take the top cap off by unscrewing the silver dial thing – as if you were going to replace the cable. This will give you enough access to get some lube everywhere. Might be worth pointing a compressor in there to see if you can blow any bits out.

FWIW I think I paid £35 for a new shifter from Merlin

Open it up. It's not that bad to put back together, I'm a ham fisted monkey with chipolata hands and I can do it no probs. I opened my up, took it all apart, cleaned it, lubed it and it's been perfect for months now, must have been a bit of rubbish in there.

Check how it comes apart before you remove all the bits, it was quite obvious I thought though.

A couple of years ago I had parts taken from one bike and built up on a new frame. When they put new cables on the little screw caps off, but that does make it easy to lube. I squirt ProGold or whatever chain lube I have to hand inside regularly and mine have never let me down in six-and-a-half years use on two bikes. Barring accidents, mine ought to go for several more years, with luck. Like the ISIS BB on the same bike… 😉

Thanks for the input guys. Spoke to Fisher about it today and they agreed to replce; just take it back to Evans which i did. Once there the manager got it working by loosening the two allen bolts slightly. Happily went home only to find it still sticks when it's got a cable (new) thorugh it although it's slightly better. Going back tomorrow for a warranty replacement