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Thought I recognised that username from some time ago. Welcome back. "We've been expecting you Mr.Steve" :)

A prime example as already said of the reason myself and my son spend weekends repairing and servicing the family cars. If I ever have to take a car to a garage I would laugh my head off at any advice given to me with a price tag attached. Always call their bluff and ask to see the issue with the car, and if your not comfortable take a knowledgable friend.

I'm afraid you, like many other genuine customers, are the victim of the far too regular "Up Sell" of garage's taking the opportunity to sell more labour and parts. The communication issue is nonsense and the garage are hoping there is a chance the customer won't know a thing about repairing cars and when someone challenges them suddenly it's a cross wires excuse. All garages, in my opinion, franchised or not encourage their staff at one level or another to actively explore sales opportunities and MOT issues are the worst example as suddenly the customer is made aware of a problem and it needs fixing to secure the MOT certificate. It makes my blood boil as to what has gone on in the past and will continue in the future. Typically brake pads are often quoted as getting a bit thin during routine servicing in the hope a quick "OK you had better do them then" from the customer. The menu pricing often used by the trade enables them to quote a fixed price incl parts labour and VAT. The customer is then having to make a quick decision without knowing enough about Up Selling. I handle the arrangements of my wife and daughter's servicing/MOT needs as we use a Citroen franchised dealer for both Citroens to preserve the service history of both cars. At no time do I ever let them know about my working life in the motor trade and sure enough each year I get the call to advise me of tyre issues , brake pads, exhaust and wheel alignment. They hate it when I say I will come down and I want them to show me what the issue is. Too many times I have said "leave it, there is nothing wrong with the vehicle" and then they try and claim it was just an advisory notice. Bear in mind if a technician works a bonus payment system it's in his/her interest to look for extras so they earn more money as well as the dealer or garage. No wonder people complain to the likes of Watch Dog.

Thats why nobody trusts them and either does their own or use a reputable garage.

Sounds shocking that mate. You need to ask questions, pitted discs dont fail mots there are plenty of oe discs and pads for a fraction of the genuine pads and discs.

I hardly ever drive modern cars, which bewilder me because I'm used to 1990s technology. Even so, I find it hard to imagine a more pleasant and relaxing drive than the LS400 - except perhaps a 430, which looks roomier. And it's the only car I've owned that seems not to age. When I bought it five years ago my mechanic said, 'You can run it for ten years', and he was right - it's running as well as it did then. The cambelt's being replaced next week, and apart from the dreaded starter motor problem this will be the only big expense so far. It's probably still worth what I paid for it, but that isn't much - and what else would you get for the money?

True, OBDII will not throw a code for low or non existent fuel pressure, a quick test for the fuel pump is to open the engine diagnostic socket and place a jumper wire between +B and FP connections of the socket and then see if the car starts. Also on the passenger side fuel rail there is a pressure regulator connected to it at the rear, it looks like a little top hat with a pip in the top, if you do the above test this little pip should pop up if full fuel pressure is present. On the 1996 you will have to remove the engine cover to do this. The fuel filter as mentioned can is often overlooked as a service item and can become completely clogged. Regarding the replacement pump reliability, on ebay it does say "lifetime warranty" and for the cost compared with Lexus prices surely worth a try. Worse thing is a failed CPS would have thrown a code so why 2 supposedly professional outfits wrongly diagnosed a part costing £200.00 is beyond belief. My advice is to also find another garage who are experts instead of guessperts preferably a little further north :) If you can drive it 150 miles north I'll even take a look for you.

The acces to screws is from engine space, and there are holes to insert the phillips screwdriver who needs to be LONG as the screws are deep inside, then if you reach the screws the procedure is rather easy: put the car in front of a wall and sign the height beams are, then go in reverse for some meters and beams have to be lower (10% on 10 meters, more or less), in no way they have to be higher. To complete the procedure you need to control if direction of beams is correct, reversing straight they don't have to go left or righ , if not there are other 2 screws to move. Alle these settings request some complete turns to be effective, being the movements of beams very light, anyway it's a good practice ti keep in mind how many turns you do so to come to previous settings if finale effects is not satisfactory.

In US usually the model year in cars is the next one, so a MY 2007 GS is sold in 2006 ;-) To be sure that replacement fits on your car, you have to ask if it is for your GS with VIN number .