I am need of a new one, since the wire broke off on mine.

Will an FC sensor work? Mine is hooked up with a blade connector, anyway, so I don't care if it has the right plastic part...

Are there any decent, cheaper 3rd party alternatives?

Is this basically junk?

 

https://www.rhdjapan.com/mazda-oem-w...nsor-fd3s.html

its 50bucks here + shipping from japan

i have seen other shops carry it in the us ranging from 90 to 110$

I recently bought the one from amazon for a different purpose to experiment on something else. It may work assuming that the connector is changed
i can check whether the thread is the same but at the end of the day you are not saving anything substantial to switch to the fc sensor

 

the FB part used to be the cheapest, 8553-15-610B its the same except it uses a bullet style connector instead of the FC and FD spade
gasket is 8553-15-611

obviously check the price on the FD part N3A1-15-610A, and a bullet connector and see which option works better

 

The SA/FB version indeed is the cheapest, it seems. I found them all on Monotaro.
The FC version is at least cheaper than the FD version.

 

I think they are all basically the same save the connector. It's a very simple switch, just grounds when it touches coolant, that's it.

Dale