You should see if he'd allow you to supply the gasket kit, bolts and other misc parts, might save you a few extra dollars. Keep on this guy, sounds like you can get him down a bit more if you keep pressing him with your Rover-knowledge

That is a bummer at 55K

 

Your post sounds to me like you're asking if you should be replacing the headgaskets and I'm wondering the same thing. Are there any symptoms other than some white smoke and rough idling at start-up? Some white smoke can be normal and there are lots of reasons for rough idle. Has it ever overheated? Just curious.

 

My truck has never overheated. The symptoms in addition to the occasional white smoke at a cold start and rough cold idle has been some coolant loss. I'm actually taking it to a new mechanic on Saturday--a rover specialist in Chantilly, VA to confirm what is going on. I got a crazy high quote on the work from the current guy and wasn't fully confident in his diagnosis. The current guy told me that he noticed a faint coolant smell on one of the spark plugs but no coolant in the cylinder.

I've also picked up a new screw top for the coolant tank just in case. I've never replaced it (owned my 04 for a little over a year and a half).

We'll see what happens...