Runs rough in 1st and 2nd then fine after that

[Tegetus]

Hello all, 97 civic with manual and 4 banger. I'm helping a friend out. His civic runs rough and has no power in 1st and 2nd, but then is fine for the other three gears. Code came up as a multiple cylinder misfire. I'm going to work on it this weekend hopefully. Anyone run into anything similar? I'm thinking vaccum lines, but would that affect a manual tranny? If it was fuel, intake or exhaust, it would just suck across the board. Let me know your thoughts....

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[gearbox]

misfires are usually caused by fuel delivery issues (like clogged injectors), bad or incorrect spark plugs, or faulty/cheap ignition system components like cap/rotor/wires. make sure you are using quality parts. last resort is blown headgasket from coolant leaking on the plugs and causing the misfires.

[Tegetus]

I agree, but the only thing is that the motor runs just fine in 3rd 4th and 5th gear. If it were any of the problems that you listed, then there would be issues across the board. The misfire code probably has been thrown by something else. Is there some type of vaccum line that is affected by what gear that you are in on a manual tranny?

[gearbox]

vacuum issues are possible if there a small leak. i would check for cracking esp the ones near the throttle body.