Round Thing behind manifold SPARKING!

[JoeRad]

my cars been real sluggish to start recently and the other day i hearda weird noise from under the hood, i pooped the hood and turned the key and to my suprise big ass yellow sparks and arcs of electricity came shooting out from this thing, can someone tell me what it is and why when i pushed a small red rubber cap back into place it all stopped and the car starts fine now,

(Wide shot)
http://i48.tinypic.com/2zyflgw.jpg
(Zoom and enhance)
http://i47.tinypic.com/2hi6o9l.jpg

as always i appreciate the help

[ShiZnitH]

Its ur starter :) Mine got broken a couple of days ago :/

[Stewi]

thats the power wire terminal on the starter. The only way it would arc is if it was touching something else that was metal or if the ground terminal is so rusted the ground is bad. The starter body sorta grounds itself against the bell housing of the the trans, just check all the areas for rust and if rusty, clean them up.

[JoeRad]

Cheers dudes was pretty sure it was the started, it looks a lot different and is an a totally different place to my last car so wasnt sure, i thinks its working fine. there was a red rubber cap on one terminal that had all but fully come off, i poppoed it back on that day and it started fine and has since.

cheers