In a similar vein VW made the previously separate [and easily pulled by hand] PCV a fixed part of the valve cover on the later gassers - a mere $600 instead of fifty bucks if I recall the numbers aright!


Thankfully someone found you could get the little rubber diaphragm that tears elsewhere for a few dollars just as you have found an aftermarket gasket.

 

I think in most cases there might be legitimate concerns or reasons why the manufacturer decided to not support replacing some parts separately. Like because if one part of the unit fails, then the other might also be usually close to failing, because of how it was designed or what material its made of. Or people wanting to replace just one part often damage also the other part, as a direct result of the replacement procedure. Or because failure of a particular component is usually a consequence of a different component already having failed, and they want that other component also exposed or inspected or replaced by forcing the replacement of a whole assembly, instead of just a small part of it. Or who knows what.

And in the case of the valve cover I know for a fact that it's not only VW and not only on this particular engine that wants you to replace not only the actual seal, but the whole cover, including all the bolts (sic!) and whistles

My real problem is that I just wish they'd share the information why they're doing this, so, we'd have a better understanding of the problem.