Doug,

Glad to see that even an expert can have issues with customers.

This is not a cleaning issue, a magnification issue, or an inspection issue.
Its an education issue. 

Tell the customer what it is that he is seeing. 
Show him the SIR tests you did when you approved the current flux-cleaning process combination. 
Show him your ROSE equivalent process controls, and all the other controls on your cleaning process. 
Educate him, show him, what he is seeing, and why all residues are not harmful. 
Explain why removing benign residues might harm his boards. 
Remind your customer that the manufacturing of electronics is a study in the gradual degradation of materials by heat and chemicals, and additional processing without reason can only reduce quality. 
The highest quality product is the one that sees the least processing.

If he's still adament that anything visible on the board is cause for rejection, make him an offer. 
Have a third party do any and all appropriate tests to determine what the contamination is. 
Have an expert evaluate the data to see if anything "harmful" is found in "likely to cause field failure" amounts. Maybe even have your customer place a call to the IPC or perhaps a committee chairman in charge of the appropriate group to identify the best provider of these services in your area. I seem to recall using your former employer for such services in another life. 
The catch is to have the bill paid in full by the party who is full of themselves and not full of facts. Most people will change their tune if they think they may have to answer to their boss for thousands of dollars of tests.

Happy hunting,
Steve Mikell
[log in to unmask]



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