Friction and wear of the sliding components in an automobile cause an increase in both fuel consumption and emission. Many engine components involved with sliding contact are all susceptible to scuffing failure at some points during their operating period. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the effects of various surface coatings on the tribological characteristics of the piston ring and cylinder block surface of a diesel engine. Wear and scuffing tests were conducted using a friction and wear measurement of the piston ring and cylinder block in a low friction diesel engine. The frictional forces, wear amounts and cycles to scuffing in the boundary lubricated sliding condition were measured using the reciprocating wear tester. The tester used a piece of the cylinder block as the reciprocating specimen and a segment of the piston ring material as the fixed pin. Several coatings on the ring specimen were used, such as DLC, TiN, Cr-ceramic and TiAlN, in order to improve the tribological characteristics of the ring. The coefficients of friction were monitored during the tests, and the wear volumes of the piston ring surfaces with various coatings were compared. Test results show that the DLC coating exhibits better tribological properties than the other coatings. The graphite structure of this coating is responsible for the low friction and wear of the DLC film. The TiN and DLC coatings show better scuffing resistance than the other coatings. The TiN and Cr-ceramic coated rings show good wear resistance and high friction.