Doubtful. We all fall into patterns in life; and regular activities where we go in and out have very predictable times.

You don't think it's likely that the regular 5 minute stops were the first warning sign and most common time he restarted his car after a short interval? Especially vapor lock on a hot day when one is likely to buy ice cream? Maybe he would've noticed it in more places if it got worse. And since he was going for ice cream, he was unlikely to dawdle around waiting for the product to melt?

The customer's location would have been helpful information. That kind of determinism seems impossible in Los Angeles, but very likely in Solon, IA.

A lot of men are extremely efficient shoppers. They know what they want and where it is. They don't browse around at all. They have the cash or card ready. Walk in, pick up the ice cream, pay, walk out. Could be done in 30 seconds if there are no other customers.

He probably learned how to reproduce the problem, experimented with it, and when the engineer came, he was proud to reproduce it and embellish his story a bit to make it seem perfect.