Reducing friction loss is an effective way to improve fuel economy and reduce carbon emission of internal combustion engine. Piston assembly including piston ring and piston has harsh working conditions and the friction loss of piston assembly-cylinder liner can account for nearly 50% of the whole engine friction loss. During the reciprocating movement process of piston assembly, the velocities are different at different positions of stroke, and the corresponding lubrication modes are also different. The higher viscosity of lubricating oil is beneficial to improving lubrication and reducing contact friction near the top and bottom dead center, and the lower viscosity of lubricating oil is beneficial to reducing viscous friction in the middle of stroke. The viscosity of lubricating oil is greatly affected by temperature. In order to investigate the influence of temperature distribution on tribological property, the lubrication model of piston assembly-cylinder liner were established with considering the oil viscosity effect, and then the influences of different thermal barrier coating schemes on the temperature distribution of cylinder liner and the tribological property of piston assembly-cylinder liner were analyzed by using numerical method. The analysis results show that the thermal barrier coating has a significant effect on improving the temperature distribution of cylinder liner and reducing the friction loss of system.