I purchased a used&abused 1998 1.5 manual Protege. Engine is clean, runs smooth (has dip in rpms at idle, but I'll look into the EGR posts), doesn't smoke and gets great MPG! Only problem is an intermittent 1st gear situation. I have to "hold" the shifter lever in 1st gear or it will make a small grind and pop out of gear. Can I adjust linkage or something, I don't know anything about tranny's. I read a post about a similar prob with 5th gear. They replaced the gear, is this hard. Pictures would be very helpful. Any info out there will be appreciated.

 

that is an early clutch problem. the clutch is slowly going and taking some gears with it. i would swap out the clutch before you tear it the rest of the way up.

 

If replaceing the clutch does not fix it then you are gonna want to take a look at your 1-2 sychronizer assembly and if i had a picture of it i would give it to you.