This paper deals with the distributions of the contact stress in oil seals. The distributions of the contact stress due to the temperature effects are analyzed for various values of the interference for a nitrile rubber seal. The calculated FEM results show that the relative maximum stresses occur at the contacting area against the shaft, the flex zone, and the contacting area of the garter spring grooves. Using the coupled temperature-stress FEM a nalysis, the contact force of a radial lip seal with and without the garter spring are studied as a function of shaft diameter. The calculated results of mechanical analysis show good correspondence with those of the coupled thermal-mechanical analysis method except small values of the interference. And the calculated results indicated that the thermal stresses only have a very minor influence on the deformed shape of the lip seal as the interference increases. But the coupled temperature-stress analysis will be very useful tool to predict the contact behaviors of rubber lip seals for small values of the interference.