Murphy's Auto & Performance Center LLC


Country United States
State Central African Republic
City Sewell
Address 221 Delsea Drive

Murphy's Auto & Performance Center LLC Reviews

  • Apr 16, 2014

Consumers beware of theft, deception, overpromises, poor workmanship and delay tactics practiced at Murphy's Auto Care & Performance Center LLC of Washington Twp, NJ. I contracted with them in the fall of 2012 to rebuild my engine and customize my 1969 Pontiac GTO to be a high end show and performance car. Dan Murphy, Jr. set the completion date for March 2013 with the goal to enter the car in the Oaks car show. Well, the car was not completed that March in time for that show or in time for the 2014 show. I made significant advance payments to Dan Murphy, Jr. for parts and service. I encountered significant delays and when questioned he made up all kinds of excuses why the parts were back ordered etc. I called the distributors myself and the parts were all in stock and learned that he had not ordered the parts. He misappropriated the funds and never ordered the parts. I sought out legal counsel and advised them I was about to seek consumer fraud charges against him and the business.

As it turns out, Dan was not the proprietor. Rather, the business was in the name of his son, Matthew Murphy. The father was fired. Matthew and his grandfather asked if I would give them some leeway and they would make good on Dan's misappropriation since a consumer fraud case would devastate Matthew's (the grandson) business. I decided not to pursue the consumer fraud case if they worked in earnest to complete the project. Well, it did not work out as I hoped. The process took almost a year and was not completely finished. I paid them to install a Vintage AC system. This was out of their capability so they had to outsource it. The cost to install was more than they contracted for with me. To get it done I paid the additional costs. The AC contractor called Matthew and informed him that the engine was lacking oil pressure and would not run the engine to charge the AC system. Murphy's said the gauge was at issue and when they learned it was not, they inappropriately blamed the AC subcontractor for causing the problem. The car was towed back to Murphy's.

At this time the car had approximately 8 hours on the engine. The oil pan contained around a quart and a half of gasoline. I had the oil drained and analyzed. The oil had abnormally high levels of lead and tin. The new bearings were worn and needed replacing. This took another couple months. They said the car was done and had it towed back to the AC subcontractor to complete the AC. They started the car immediately after it was taken off the tow truck. The engine ran horrible. They called Murphy's immediately to tell them the engine ran poorly and that there was fuel in the oil pan again. Matthew Murphy said the new Quick Fuel carburetor had a bad power valve. They didn't have a good answer to why they said it was done and sent it over knowing there was a carburetor issue. The car was towed back again to Murphy's. They said they replaced the power valve and the gas pump they installed. They said the initial fuel pump they installed was too high of a pressure and it was dumping too much fuel in the engine. The car was towed back yet again to the AC subcontractor to charge the AC system.

Well, the newly installed chrome AC compressor that Murphy's provided was faulty and would not take a charge. In addition, they improperly rewired the car such that it shorted out and burned out my custom painted alternator. AC subcontractor fixed the wiring and replaced the alternator.

Matthew said they would make good on the alternator and compressor but Matthew will not return my calls. Thus, the job was never completed. Having lost confidence in Murphy's, I took the car to another speed shop to put it on a Dyno to test the engine specifications. The targeted horsepower of the engine as stipulated by Dan Murphy was to generate at least 400 HP at the wheels.

On the first pass, the Dyno reflected only 290 HP. The new mechanic pulled the plugs, checked the timing and fuel pressure. I was surprised to learn that Murphy's installed the wrong spark plugs (racing plugs that were too cold), set the wrong timing, and there was too low of a fuel pressure to generate the targeted HP. He changed the plugs and set the timing and made another pass on the Dyno. This pass generated 340 HP (50 more HP just from plugs and timing). He said the higher pressure fuel pump should be installed but with a regulator which is customary to limit the pressure to the applicable specifications. I should also note that when Matthew was taking the car to get the AC installed the first time, he blew the transmission in the car. They said it was because the newly rebuilt engine generated too much HP and torque for the transmission. Well, that seemed like a reasonable possibility at the time.

So I incurred the cost for them to install a Tremic TKO 600 5 speed transmission at a total cost of around $5,000. This a very high performance transmission for high HP and torque engine applications. But the Dyno tests reflect HP and torque more in the range of a stock engine so the reason for the transmission failure and need for such an expensive high performance transmission are extremely doubtful at best. I have encountered more issues as well but have captured the more serious ones herein.

My purpose for issuing this report is to alert other peospective consumers of my experiences with Murphy's to caution them to perform their own due diligencerom before doing business with them; and in so doing, offer consumers the opportinity to avoid the pain and suffering I have endured.

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