Passat 3B Repair Manual: Best Guide & Tips

Hello everyone, to all you diesel mechanics!

As a newcomer to the TDI world, I'm looking for a reasonable repair/service manual for my Passat Estate TDI, model year 1999 (110 hp). I don't want to disassemble the engine, but rather perform the routine maintenance myself as much as possible, and perhaps occasionally tackle a small repair.
For my Vectra B, I had the repair manual 'Jetzt helfe ich mir selbst' by Dieter Korp, which I found quite good. But when I looked around recently, I saw that repair manuals in general tend to be rated quite poorly! This also applies to the one by Dieter Korp for my Passat!

Which book could you recommend to me?

Thank you in advance!

Greetings bitdreher.

How about the Etzold (How it's done)? I found it to be better for the 35i than the Korp.

Best regards, WarLord.

Etzhold is better, but unfortunately, even when covering interesting topics, he often only tells half the story or even gets things wrong.

I rely on www.erwin.volkswagen.de.

They are relatively expensive, but they are directly from Volkswagen.

Thank you in advance for the answers.

Unfortunately, Erwin only accepts credit cards, and I think it's also quite expensive.

Is this the same Etzold? The book only has 2 stars on Amazon, which is quite low. However, it's also only based on a single review.

'I am a mechanic myself, but unfortunately, I don't have any experience with VW vehicles. Regarding maintenance and care, this book is only conditionally recommended. While you can read it as a general guide, there are significant shortcomings in the details provided.'
Water reservoir, no indication of drainage holes - these can easily become clogged and lead to water leakage inside.
Example 2: Expanding the aggregate carrier at the rear door '... can be expanded in the same way as the front.' I'm sorry, but without understanding the difference, you're at a disadvantage.
etc.
Conclusion: Rarely useful as a repair manual.

Are there really no more alternatives?

Greetings bitdreher.

Sorry, but Erwin (siehe Fehlerdatenbank) also works without a credit card! Even though it's expensive, it's the best guide you can get for anything.

Etzhold and associates are simply copying and doing a very poor job of it!

Hi again,

I just bought the 'How-to Guide' by Etzold for 20 euros, and I'm actually quite satisfied with it so far. I won't really know how good the book is until I've tried out various things.
It's a bit annoying that each volume covers all versions of the Passat, including the sedan and station wagon, gasoline and diesel models. You often have to flip through a lot of pages to find the information you're looking for.

Thank you again for the quick advice!