Abstract: In the oil hydraulic piston pumps the clearance between the valve plate and cylinder block plays an important role for volumetric and overall efficiency. Thus, adequate lubricational fluid film is needed for the interface. In this study, fluid film thickness is measured by a gap sensor and a slip ring under operational conditions to observe the behavior of the lubrication mechanism in detail. To investigate the effect according to the valve plate types in view of the fluid film, three different types were designed. Leakage flow rate and shaft torque were also measured to clarify the effect according to the valve plate types. A broad range of experiments were conducted to provide reasonable data on the effect of fluid film. In this experiments two main parameters were found, of which the one is the discharge pressure and the other is valve plate geometry. As a result, we found that the spherical valve plate could get more stable fluid film thickness, maintain good efficiency for high pressure range than the other types.