1995 Grand Am SE Engine Problems

Just bought a used '95 Grand Am SE from a family friend. The car is in fairly good condition, with over 100K miles on it. When attempting to turn on the car, the engine works a bit, then fires up. Although it sounds like only 2 or 3 of the cylinders are firing because it only reaches about 20 Mp/h and spits out some weird sounds. At first I thought this was a damaged timing chain, but after removing the timing chain housing, inspecting the chain, and making sure the chain and gears are in line, nothing looks wrong. I checked all the spark plugs, I noticed one of them is damaged and probably doesn't spark. I figure the problem is something electrical, but am clueless otherwise. Anyone have any ideas?

Welcome to the forum. It sounds like you found your problem. If one of the spark plugs is damaged like you said, it could be mis-firing hardcore. I would deffinately put in a new plug (change all of them for that matter) and check your coil packs and wires to see if that cures the misfires. If none of those are the problem, then there are many other culprits we can look at. Can you describe the sound?

How was the plug damaged? Look for signs of overheating (common on the quad motors), heat range and length of the plug. If its the wrong plug for the car and it hit a piston, there could be internal damage. Another thing, when you put the timing cover back on, did you use a new seal? If not, they do tend to leak and as you know they are a real joy to change. Mine had 28 bolts for 2 different seals, we ended up gluing the inner one to the cover so we could get it on.