Aisin AW produced a 5 speed front wheel drive transmission for Volvo, SAAB, GM, Suzuki and Nissan vehicles (figure 1).
It is called the AW55-50SN in Volvo and SAAB, the AF23/33-5 in GM and Suzuki and the RE5F22A in Nissan. This transmission has been on the road close to 15 years now. Due to the many years and applications, it is a transmission that shows up regularly for service and repairs. Despite the years and familiarity of this transmission, a no 3rd gear problem after repairs or fluid service occurs still to this very day. Usually, when this happens to you once it doesn’t happen a second time. But when you are unaware, you’ll find yourself in underwear! The fluid fill location pointed out in figure 1 is difficult to see when looking down on the transmission with the hood open. What you do see real well is what looks like a fill plug (figure 2). This is actually the 3rd gear band anchor bolt. When this bolt is taken off to fill the transmission with fluid, the band will move out of position. The end result will be a transmission filled with fluid with no 3rd gear. This will require transmission removal and disassembly to re-anchor the band. We have had incidents where the person rebuilding the transmission and the person installing the transmission not talk to each other. The installer not knowing the error made the first time around repeats the same fluid fill procedure through the anchor resulting in the no 3rd gear problem. Be aware instead of being caught in your underwear.
