Do You Have To Use Specified Power Steering Fluid?

Hi all,

Had a bit of a leaky problem with my power steering recently - waiting on it getting fixed in a few days, but in the mean-time am just going to have to keep filling up the power steering fluid each time I drive.

I've bought some general "Carlube" power steering fluid, but it says on the back:

"suitable for use in all vehicles*, where the specification for the power steering fluid demands one of the following specification."

"Specifications

GM Dexron III

GM Dexron II Type 'D' and 'E'

Ford Mercon WSPM2C185A

Ford WSPM2C138CJ

Ford WSPM2C166H

Ford WSPM2C195A

Allison C4

Caterpillar T02"

Note: Curiously, the wee star doesn't seem to correspond to any particular piece of information!

I checked the specification in my ford manual and it says WSS-M2C 204-A2 is the recommended fluid.

Just wondering how stringent you have to be with this and whether the CarLube stuff I have just now will be fine?

When the PAS started whining today my uncle put some fluid in it from a random bottle in his garage, just to get me home. Will that be okay?

Edit: Getting a bit panicky now as the fluid my uncle used was red, and everywhere I look online seems to say that WSS-M2C 204-A2 is green (we couldn't tell at the time because it was so low)... and everywhere also seems to say that mixing them is a BAD idea! Some places also say the colour of the cap is a good indication - black for red, green for green, and it is a black cap. So not entirely sure if the manual is even correct - especially as it's a general manual which seems to cover all sorts of different focuses with different engines, etc...

How screwed am I?

P.S. it's a 2005 Ford Focus 1.6 Ghia (100ps).

Cheers,

GSM