The design of individual lubricating gaps with their bearing and sealing function mainly determines the loss behaviour, life time, reliability and achievable technical parameters of displacement machines. The gap flow conditions are influenced by the operating parameters, the gap macro geometry, the surface quality and by the chosen surface material. Therefore the determination of the time dependent gap height requires very complex simulation models considering the motion of moveable parts, the interaction between machine parts, the dependency on design and operating parameters and the energy dissipation within the gaps as well as changes of the gap height caused by the flexibility of the applied surface material. This paper introduces a new method for complex gap flow simulation of connected and self-adjusting gaps of axial piston machines, where the model for the piston/cylinder pair was extended to consider elastohydrodynamic effects. The simulation model has been verified with the help of friction force measurements on the piston/cylinder assembly.