Just a clarification on the title, I’m not going to go into whether or not you removed a the part that was broken or not. Depending on your skill level at diagnosis you may or may not have done that. The subject here has to do with whether or not the last person who replaced that part put the correct one back in and how you might be able to tell.
Let’s start with an assumption we’ll make for this exercise. Vehicle has 150K miles or more.
There’s really no guarantee that the last mechanic that replaced the part (oh no, was that you?) put in the correct part. Here are a couple of signs to look for:
… was the stock bracketry cut, ground, welded, or modified in any way?
… was the wiring harness modified, spliced, or hacked in any way?
… are there markings on it like someone had to beat it to get it installed? (Might want to think about a different mechanic, even if it was you.)
… do any of the connections (hoses, pipes, wires, etc.) look like they have custom adapters on them to make it work?
Really, this matters little when you’re replacing a part. The only concern you might have is that if the vehicle was modified to accept the incorrect part, you (or your mechanic) will probably have to modify it back to install a correct part. The other thing you need to be careful of is using the part number off of a part that has one or more of the above signs. If in doubt, go back to the “What parts info do I need?” blog and re-read it.
Hopefully this will help you aquire a correct part for your vehicle and save you some frustration in replacing it.