diff --git a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/admin/KafkaAdminClient.java b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/admin/KafkaAdminClient.java
index 54603a57ce7cd..05a74b6d8f163 100644
--- a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/admin/KafkaAdminClient.java
+++ b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/admin/KafkaAdminClient.java
@@ -756,6 +756,11 @@ protected Node curNode() {
             return curNode;
         }
 
+        void abortAndFail(TimeoutException timeoutException) {
+            this.aborted = true;
+            fail(time.milliseconds(), timeoutException);
+        }
+
         /**
          * Handle a failure.
          *
@@ -818,8 +823,12 @@ private void failWithTimeout(long now, Throwable cause) {
                 log.debug("{} timed out at {} after {} attempt(s)", this, now, tries,
                     new Exception(prettyPrintException(cause)));
             }
-            handleFailure(new TimeoutException(this + " timed out at " + now
-                + " after " + tries + " attempt(s)", cause));
+            if (cause instanceof TimeoutException) {
+                handleFailure(cause);
+            } else {
+                handleFailure(new TimeoutException(this + " timed out at " + now
+                    + " after " + tries + " attempt(s)", cause));
+            }
         }
 
         /**
@@ -1130,7 +1139,7 @@ private void timeoutCallsInFlight(TimeoutProcessor processor) {
                     if (call.aborted) {
                         log.warn("Aborted call {} is still in callsInFlight.", call);
                     } else {
-                        log.debug("Closing connection to {} to time out {}", nodeId, call);
+                        log.debug("Closing connection to {} due to timeout while awaiting {}", nodeId, call);
                         call.aborted = true;
                         client.disconnect(nodeId);
                         numTimedOut++;
@@ -1375,7 +1384,7 @@ void enqueue(Call call, long now) {
                 client.wakeup(); // wake the thread if it is in poll()
             } else {
                 log.debug("The AdminClient thread has exited. Timing out {}.", call);
-                call.fail(Long.MAX_VALUE, new TimeoutException("The AdminClient thread has exited."));
+                call.abortAndFail(new TimeoutException("The AdminClient thread has exited."));
             }
         }
 
@@ -1390,7 +1399,7 @@ void enqueue(Call call, long now) {
         void call(Call call, long now) {
             if (hardShutdownTimeMs.get() != INVALID_SHUTDOWN_TIME) {
                 log.debug("The AdminClient is not accepting new calls. Timing out {}.", call);
-                call.fail(Long.MAX_VALUE, new TimeoutException("The AdminClient thread is not accepting new calls."));
+                call.abortAndFail(new TimeoutException("The AdminClient thread is not accepting new calls."));
             } else {
                 enqueue(call, now);
             }