I’m a first time homeowner. Contractor came over to clean my AC before the hot days start and he says he can’t get the coils out to clean them due to the two pipes that are too tight (see pictures). Also says there is black mold in there and tons of gunk, which I saw with my own eyes. It’s disgusting. So he says he needs to cut the pipe but needs to pump refrigerant into the condenser first. Then says some gasket in condenser is broken so he can’t do that. SO the total fix for all this is $4,200. Then says he can just replace the whole system, ac and furnace, for $8,800 since system is 9 years old and off-brand. He’s a really nice guy who has done work for me before, but something seemed off. So I wanted to post here and see what people thought. Can he actually clean the coils in its current installation and just lying?

He also took some pictures of copper pipes connected in some way he said was incorrect? Included those as well.