Here are a couple of pics of cludged up oil that appears to be leaking out from under the valve cover.

I don't do many miles, and it's going in for a service / oil change next week.

Based on your experience, is this a serious leak and is it commonly associated with other issues I should watch out for? I'm thinking that I may as well get it all sorted at once.

It's a 2002 with 109,000 miles.

 

Good god!!! Replace the valve cover gasket...

 

I take it by your response that this is in a pretty bad state like I thought. Even if the oil has been kept topped up, do you think this might have caused other issues over time?

I've only owned the car for a month or so and it has been running sweet for me so far, but I'm making a pretty extensive to-do list so that it (hopefully) stays that way.

 

The only other issue would be smoking from under the hood coz all that oil will go over exhaust manifold. The valve cover is lke $25 bucks.

 

Wash your damn car bro. Wtf!

 

Wash your damn car bro. Wtf!

 

It won't cause an issue over time if the oil is being maintained and topped off. However, it is a slight fire hazard, but the chances of that are slim. You should change it at your next service interval.

The brake fluid in the clutch master cylinder looks really dark. You might want to get that changed also.

 

Holy rust! Get that valve-cover powder coated a fresh red coat. I'm more concerned about the black around the head.

 

Damn that thing looks beat, time for a major makeover.

 

Previous owner or owners of that car didn't give a shit about that car. I have never seen an s2000 engine bay look that bad