Weird circuit in children toy

[frenky]

I have bought a bathtub toy which has a water pump in it and it stopped working on the first day.
I thought pump has died so I took it apart to see which model should I order online.
After a month I got it and replaced the faulty one.
But this new pump also was not working so problem was elsewhere.
I took it completly apart and found capacitor in series.
I have never seen that in DC circuit. Any idea why the cap is there?

The whole circuit is battery, capacitor, switch and 5v dc pump in series.

[frenky]

The toy is powered by 3xAA batteries and pump looks like this:


And toy:

[David Hess]

The part is not a capacitor.  It might be a PTC thermister used as a resetable fuse to prevent damage to the battery in the event that the motor seizes.

[frenky]

That makes sense. Perhaps its to low value and its limiting current too much. Because pump was working but it did not produce enough water pressure to spin the accessories.