A friend asked me this and I wasnt sure.

"i'm at a red light and i can't shift into
1st or 2nd without shaking the stick left and right hard a bunch of times.
and reverse, well i have to put it in 5th before i can even think about
puting it in reverse or else it won't let me. also, i drove my in-law's
teg(92') and when i shift threw the gears its a nice and smooth transition.
but in my car when i shift from 1st to 2nd. it kind of stops then goes into
2nd. same goes for 2nd to 3rd and 3rd to 4th, but not 4th to 5th. its like
there is something preventing a fast smooth shift. do you know why that is?"

Old MTL?

 

The fact that shaking the lever back and forth helps indicates to me that the shift linkage or rails are not lining up very well. The 5th-to-reverse issue also agrees with this line of thought.

If the linkage or shift rails get bent, then the lever will not guide the trans properly.

I'm not sure if trans lubrication will help this, but it's certainly worth a shot. Then I would check the linkage, then lastly the internals.