Find & Replace unstable

Having a problem with Find & Replace. Mac OS X (10.3.5)

Say I want to replace a part of the code in several pages within one
directory. I would probably try it first by clicking find all >> which gives a
result in the search-window. This is because I want a check on the number or
names of documents (you know: be sure that all you expect is found). The Find
window dissapears. By clicking the green arrow it returns, but: my
search-string and or my replace-string is gone or changed...

Retyping the code gives the possibility of making mistakes, but doing a
find-all job gives the same sequence... But let's say I would do the
replace-job...

Then If I want to change the same part of code in another directory with a
slightly different replace-string I would like to get the F&R window back with
the same search and replace strings, so I can simply change a few words. But I
never get the complete strings back when the window re-opens. Mostly half of
the code. The last lines are gone...

My experience is that F&R in MX2004 on Mac 10.3.5 is completely impossible to
use. When I want to do things like described I would go back to DW-MX.

Does anyone have this or does anyone has a solution. I searched discussions
and knowledgebase but could not realy find anything about this....