guys, i went to buy a valve cover gasket and the guy aslo gave me a smaller rectangular gasket with this semi-circular plast piece. what is this and how hard is it to replace??

i have a 1997 1.8t/q/at, is it common for the oil coolers to go bad and leak some oil into the coolant, becasue i just had my coolant flushed and it is a little bit cloudy and i am not sure if it was just the residual left over in the lines or if maybe the oil cooler is leaking???

 

Picture will help.

 

Sounds kinda like a camshaft adjuster gasket. But the semiciruclar piece is rubber i think. At least its softer than plastic. And the rectanglar thing is has a bunch of blue spots on it. Its black and made out of metal. Its not too hard to do. You can replace it by removeing the four bolts that hold the adjuster on, and sliding the new gaskets under it. The easier and recomended way is to remove the intake camshaft. Then you can remove the adjuster and be sure the gasket is seated properly on the head. Just make sure you mark the cam gear and the chain so you get everything back where it needs to be.