Do I need just the gaskets or to or to replace the whole thing

 

Depends, check if your spark plug tube seals are leaking, if they are replaced the covers and gaskets.

 

DarkZ03 is correct. Also make sure to put the rtv at the front 'corners' of the valve cover, when replacing. The FSM will show you exactly where. There are also member submitted guides on here, detailing the steps.

I will also add to be careful torquing the cover bolts, I've had one strip before reaching the specification, they don't need much torque.

 

On my last cycle - I applied a very small amount of RTV in the grove of valve covers, dropped the rubber gasket in, and then a thin strip on the heads before installing the valve covers and it worked well - no leaks

 

Thanks everybody very helpful the seals are a lot cheaper than the entire cover glad I don't have to replace them

 

But it depends what is leaking, and you've not said.
So what is the problem exactly?

 

Its leaking from the seal there's no oil coming from the spark plugs just the base of both sides

 

It's kind've a pain to get to the valve covers, so it's usually better to just replace the whole cover instead of just the gasket. The spark plug seals will eventually go bad and need replacement anyways. My VC gasket started leaking at around 100k and I just opted to replace the covers even though my spark plug wells were ok. The spark plug seals on the original VC's were rock hard when I pulled them and probably would've started leaking shortly.

 

How much were they? Where did you get then from?

 

I got mine from concept z performance. Czp and z1 both have oem for a little under $200 each. Less if you buy a full kit with both vc and gaskets.

I wasn't able to find much info on cheap 3rd party VC's other than negative reviews on Amazon. There's cheap ones on rockauto as well but I didn't wanna risk having to do everything again in a couple months or a year so I just went with OEM.

 

Yeah I seen those they look sketchy too many negative reviews to trust something that could cost me more In the long run i just didn't want to post 400+ but I'll just do that next paycheck