It's not "driving hard" per se that I will shorten the interval of oil changes. It's the how hard you worked the engine that I base my oil change interval on. For instance, if I drove 4k miles of mostly highway miles never reving her pass 4k rpm, I will change the oil once. However, if I went to the 1/4 mi track every friday and and put 2k mi in 1 month, I will probably change the oil at 2.5k or 3k mi. The simple fact that at the track, I'm reving the engine up to 7k every gear except 4th (1,2,3 into 4) means the engine was working hard!
Think of it this way, you are working outside and take your time digging post holes for the fence you are putting up. Sure you sweat but not too bad so you shower 1x at the end of the day. On the other hand, your busting your butt with rocks in the soil which you have to use a pick to break apart then dig the hole all in one day, you will probably take more breaks and shower a few times in between just to cool off. Shower = you clean and rest yourself. Oil change = clean engine and get her good and ready for the work ahead (like resting).
Then you have to add in the heat factor. Oil has an operating temp when it works the best. It's something like 190* or something. Too cool/cold and it's thick and don't flow right. Too hot and the oil itself breaks down and becomes less efficient and effective of lubing. So if your driving in the upper RPM ranges, you have extra heat and working the engine harder therefore it's generally a good idea to change the oil at shorter intervals.
YzGyz
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