The purpose of the conditioner is to remove Tin from the deposit left by the
catalyst...

The conditioner is fluoboric acid, and removes Tin by dis-associating,
slightly, and slowly, into Boric Acid, and HF (a little)...

See, most of Tin that has reacted with Palladium is in the +4 (Stannic)
state, and this is highly insoluble in anything except HF and caustic (hence
success with alkaline catalyst)

so, it is possible that this reaction, of free Fluoride being present in
enough quantity to dissolve Tin, may not be happening, for some reason, I am
uncertain.

So, would check such things as Tin content in conditioner, or level of
acidity, or maybe even pH, (if you can read it) of conditioner.

It occurs to me that the decomposed Fluoboric (into Boric) and the actual
Fluoboric could titrate the same, so a titration would not tell you much, but
since Fluoboric is VERY acidic, but Boric only slightly acidic, pH might tell
you what is there....

Hope this helps,

Rudy Sedlak
RD Chemical Company