sounds like its coming from the top half of the engine. its hard to locate because its so feint. it would probably go un noticed to the untrained ear. the car has done 101k miles.

wouldnt be piston slap?

im gonna run some fuel system cleaner through it today and flush/change the oil in the next few days.

what doesnt make sense is that the car was well maintained before i bought it so it wouldnt have been neglected and before the fella i bought it off there was only 1 previous owner.