I have a 2006 Mazda6 S hatchback. It's a V6 3.0L engine and 6 speed automatic. It needs a new TCM. Im not crazy about buying a new one from the dealership for $900. They give me a part number; "AW02189E1J". I search every salvage yard, used parts websites, and ebay for this part and cant find a used one. After talking to a scrap yard in St. Louis, the guy tells me the part number ending "J" sounds like one of their new parts and they just have the old parts ending in "E" and "D". After looking up "AW02189E1E" and "AW02189E1D", I notice the part is identical to the one ending in "J". On top of this, every salvage yard that lists them having the parts ending in E and J are from 2006 mazda 6 v6 3.0 engines with a 6spd auto trans. I start putting 2 and 2 together and Im wondering if Mazda had upgraded the part and that's why it has a "new" number that no salvage yard seems to have. Does this make sense? Anybody else run into a similar problem?

 

Part numbers often are superseded, with the last Letter being the suffix that changes.

A, to B, to C, to D etc etc

You can ring the parts department at your local Mazda Dealer & double check the supersession.