European-specs tranny oil voids warranty?

[Charlie]

I just imported European-specs gear-oil Ford uses in ST170. It is SAE 75/90 gear-oil Ford-specification WSD-M2C200-C (says on the bottle).
I wanted to replace stock fluid with it (I find it too thin, that's why I miss shifts from time to time).
The Focus manual on page 308 recommends this regarding "checking and adding manual transmission fluid": "Use only fluid which has been released by Ford under WSD M2C200C". Based on that I think to myself: no problemo the dealer (Markville Ford, Ontario) should be fine with the Euro-specs oil (it even has a nice Ford emblem on it).
Not so. They said they would deny warranty coverage on my tranny if I use it. They even had the nerve to deny my request that WSD-M2C200-C spec be mentioned on the work order. It was right on the frigging bottle in front of them and they didn't want to acknowledge it. I almost went ballistic! They hoped they could later claim it was some aftermarket fluid that caused tranny problems because there would be no proof. It seemed to me like robbery in broad daylight, just waiting for any excuse to rip customer off. The dealership is fine in many respects, but if you think about changing even one iota in your Focus to enhance your driving experience stay well clear of Markville Ford, Ontario.
I wonder if somebody from Ontario had a similar experience with dealer unfairly denying warranty coverage. Is there an independent arbitration procedure or are we completely at their mercy? I really could use a good advise of what to do next.

[deactivated]

I don't mean to be critical, but you are blaming the tranny fluid on your shifting ability? If the tranny fluid really was the problem, wouldn't lots of other people be reporting this? I've just never heard of such a thing. I admit I've missed shifts once or twice, but it was because I wasn't paying attention. I think a big factor in any missed shifts is that people try to slam shift on a car that has a dual mass flywheel and it just doesn't work. Are you missing in certain gears or all the time? It could be that you need to have the shift linkage looked at....that seems to be fixing a ton of the problems out there.

[Charlie]

Thanks for the feedback. I had the dealer check the transmission. They couldn't find anything wrong with it (I assume they checked the shift linkage as well). No, I don't slam gears. I mostly miss 1-2 shift by going instead to 4th.
The important thing is I never miss shifts when the transmission fluid is cold. It seems to me the fluid looses too much viscosity when it is hot (after about 1,5-2 hours of driving) therefore providing less protection. I think the stock fluid is something like 75W80 or maybe 75W85. 80 stands for summer grade and the higher the summer grade number the more the oil remains viscous at high temperatures (100°C), and therefore the more protection it provides to the transmission during strenuous use. The european fluid is 75W90 so it has a higher summer grade (90 versus 80 or 85) therefore providing better protection under strenuous use. It has to; after all this stuff is being used on autobahns. You write: "If the tranny fluid really was the problem, wouldn't lots of other people be reporting this?". Maybe they don't report this because they think such a loss of viscosity in transmission fluid is normal or maybe they think the problem is somewhere else. I don't know. I wouldn't know of the problem myself if I didn't drive a rental car in Germany (Seat Leon 1.6L). Only then I realized how ****py the transmission feels in my ZX3, especially when it is hot (It is somewhat better in SVT I own now but the problem is still there). Maybe not all of the problem is related to the transmission fluid used, but at least part of it is. I am sure of it. I now made my choice to go with the european-specs tranny fluid and the only obstacle is a stubborn and unreasonable dealer who refuses my warrant coverage even-though the european-specs fluid conforms to Ford Specification WSD-M2C200-C which is exactly what my manual recommends (Page 308).

[deactivated]

ah, you said the magic numbers...1-2. A lot of people (including myself) have this problem, and it was fixed by most by having their shift linkage adjusted.