02 malibu won’t start without disconnecting spark plugs

When I first got the car, I noticed it would not start most of the time with the first turn of the key. The second turn of the key almost always started the car. It remained that way pretty consistently for a couple weeks. Then every once in awhile when I would go to start it it would take many turns of the key to get it to start. At that point I noticed a rapid decline and and more and more often I would have to turn the key many times to get it to start. It got so bad I would almost kill the battery before it would finally start. I remember one time even smelling an electrical fire smell. I was worried I may have burned up the starter. That was the second to last time before I parked it. The last time before I parked it I tried to avoid killing the battery so I sprayed throttle body cleaner into the air intake to give it a boost. It took a few times but it finally started. That was the day I parked it at home and decided I will not use it for commuting anymore. Every once in awhile for the next couple weeks I would try starting it and it never started again. I replaced the fuel filter and that did not help. Cleaned the fuel injectors and that did not help either. Replaced the air filter also to no avail. Then decided to check the spark plugs. In the process of messing with the spark plugs one of the spark plugs gaps got reduced by accident and after that happened we tried starting it and acted like it wanted to start which may have been a coincidence. Because soon after while messing with the spark plugs, we had taken the front plugs out (plugs 2, 4, and 6) and while starting the car to see if there was a spark on the spark plugs it fired up on three cylinders. While have those spark plugs out of their sockets testing for spark it started up and ran. It would start every time as long as all three spark plugs were disconnected. So at that point I decided to change all the spark plugs and wires but that did not solve the problem. So then I changed the ignition coils. That did not solve the problem either.. this is the weirdest thing and I do not know what to do from here. What would you guys suggest as the next step. I am driving the car to work as of now because I have found the “cheat code” to get the car started which is as follows: unplug spark plugs two four and six, start the vehicle(sometimes it hesitates but hasnt failed yet), let it run for about 30 seconds, turn off vehicle, plug spark plugs back in, then the vehicle will start and run fine.

I have also noticed that when completing this process the carnacts like I have disconnected the battery because the radio will be set to 12:00.

Another thing that is bizarre is the car chirps at times. Usually within a few minutes after starting the vehicle. Sometimes it will chirp again several minutes later. It has even chirped after driving it for an hour when I dropped my daughter off. I never turned the vehicle off when this happened and I wish I could remember for sure whether I put it in park ( I think I did).

I don’t know if these things are related. The chirping is a new issue that I believe started after the car set for a couple weeks.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks