That would be my interpretation and over the life of the aircraft that could happen...
We had a visiting Falcon 20 with a dual all in one GPS / FMS UNS-1 Nav system... just two major components, the main Display / Computer unit and an active GPS antenna... Owner reported that 15minutes into every flight, the Captains display blanked and remained off until rebooted giving a further 15 minutes of use... Owners had replaced the FMS unit three times; all the wiring checked out OK and the FMS units checked out serviceable on the bench. The problem was diagnosed eventually to the GPS Antenna driving the Captains box... its an active antenna and needs a 15V supply which it derives from the Nav unit; in this instance the antenna had developed an internal short circuit which was loading the 15v rail that also powered the display until its self protection system kicked in ... The repair involved replacing the Antenna...
By the logic described in the original question, in replacing the FMS unit, the owners had changed the installation, by removing and bench checking the same unit we had done so too; similarly in replacing the antenna we had changed the installation.
In reality because like was replaced with like nothing had changed insofar as the installation was concerned... The items carried the same part numbers as the original fit, the serial numbers had changed but that irrelevant.