It's about one of the easiest fixes on these cars. Even If you have never worked on a car before, you can do this. Valve covers go for around $50 used. Unbolt the bolts holding the valve cover down, remove any hoses attached to the valve cover, and remove the top timing belt cover. The key is to not over tighten the valve cover when re installing. They crack very easily. I like to used a nut driver and have yet to crack one using one.

Thanks for the info. So what do you think caused this? And do you think theres a bigger underlying problem?

Probably just a worn gasket, and the guy over tightened the bolts. I had a leaking gasket and a cracked valve cover when I bought my car. Easy fix

No problem. It was overtightened. The old gasket started to leak and they probably tried to tighten it to try to stop the leak and cracked it. Either way, it was just simply over tightened. No underlying issues.

DSMik3 said:

Thanks for the info. So what do you think caused this? And do you think theres a bigger underlying problem?

Click to expand...

Incorrect torque (excessive) is almost always the cause of a cracked valve cover.

Buy a good used or new valve cover, torque to spec, enjoy.