Apparent misfire when cold BMW 1 Series F20 118iSport 2014 - 14 plate

Hi. Car is 23 months old, c13k miles. Main dealer supplied. It has developed an apparent misfire when starting from cold - engine runs rough, reduced/no power for 30 seconds/a minute. All then OK. Main dealer says this is a characteristic of this particular engine which has a built in system to bring the catalytic converter up to operating temperature quickly when the coolant temperature is below 10C. This results in the roughness I am experiencing. This doesn't sound plausible to me and I wonder if I am being fobbed off. The roughness was not apparent last winter when the car was new but has developed recently. I would welcome your thoughts.

Asked on 6 February 2016 by RogerD

Answered by Honest John
The dealer explanation makes sense, but this engine can also have a timing chain problem and if the oil has still not been changed then contaminated oil is a more likely reason for the initial roughness.
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