so i know that rust in the piston chamber means your screwed but i have rust on top of my piston in the #1 cylinder now i kinda figured that its not going to start but can i save it without taking the head off or replacing the engine. or should i just leave it?

 

How do you know you have rust on top of your piston? Since when did aluminum rust?

 

well aparently water got into it and i looked down the spark plug hole and saw rust i didnt think aluminum rusted either

 

Al. doesn't rust, it corrodes. Are you sure it's not just carbon buildup?

 

If you look in and see rust on the top of your aluminum piston. That is usually an indication that the cylinder walls are rusted. When there is enough water, containing rust from the cylinder walls, that has settled on top of the piston and dried up/drained into your oil pan. It will leave a film of rust behind. the more the water left behind the worse your cylinder walls will be.

If the water was left in there for a prolonged period of time and left to evaporate/slowly drain. You will also see that the water will leave progressively worse rust rings on the cylinder walls as the water slowly evaporates/drains out of the cylinder.

 

i think your right i thnk its just corrosion there is no rust on the cylynder walls

 

You may want to fill the cylinder up with some oil, let it soak for a day or so and siphon it out before you go and start the engine. If you don't want to siphon the oil out you can crank the engine over by hand to force as much of the oil out and then start it. Lets call it preventative maintenance in case the rings are actually rusted/stuck to the cylinder wall.....

 

i will try that and so far the rings haven't stuck to the wall and no signs of rust on the wall hopefully its not to late