diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index a59fb4da2a3..f32e0cad656 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -147,6 +147,9 @@ Trunk (Unreleased)
     Block Pool Used, Block Pool Used(%) and Failed Volumes.
     (Brahma Reddy Battula via suresh)
 
+    HDFS-4052. BlockManager#invalidateWork should print log outside the lock.
+    (Jing Zhao via suresh)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
   BUG FIXES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/blockmanagement/BlockManager.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/blockmanagement/BlockManager.java
index 9af8eb4cbef..822aeff65c5 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/blockmanagement/BlockManager.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/blockmanagement/BlockManager.java
@@ -2856,6 +2856,9 @@ assert storedBlock.findDatanode(dn) < 0 : "Block " + block
    * @return number of blocks scheduled for removal during this iteration.
    */
   private int invalidateWorkForOneNode(String nodeId) {
+    final List<Block> toInvalidate;
+    final DatanodeDescriptor dn;
+    
     namesystem.writeLock();
     try {
       // blocks should not be replicated or removed if safe mode is on
@@ -2865,10 +2868,23 @@ assert storedBlock.findDatanode(dn) < 0 : "Block " + block
       }
       // get blocks to invalidate for the nodeId
       assert nodeId != null;
-      return invalidateBlocks.invalidateWork(nodeId);
+      dn = datanodeManager.getDatanode(nodeId);
+      if (dn == null) {
+        invalidateBlocks.remove(nodeId);
+        return 0;
+      }
+      toInvalidate = invalidateBlocks.invalidateWork(nodeId, dn);
+      if (toInvalidate == null) {
+        return 0;
+      }
     } finally {
       namesystem.writeUnlock();
     }
+    if (NameNode.stateChangeLog.isInfoEnabled()) {
+      NameNode.stateChangeLog.info("BLOCK* " + getClass().getSimpleName()
+          + ": ask " + dn + " to delete " + toInvalidate);
+    }
+    return toInvalidate.size();
   }
 
   boolean blockHasEnoughRacks(Block b) {
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/blockmanagement/InvalidateBlocks.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/blockmanagement/InvalidateBlocks.java
index 588d8df444d..2a10ee2253c 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/blockmanagement/InvalidateBlocks.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/blockmanagement/InvalidateBlocks.java
@@ -134,26 +134,7 @@ class InvalidateBlocks {
     return new ArrayList<String>(node2blocks.keySet());
   }
 
-  /** Invalidate work for the storage. */
-  int invalidateWork(final String storageId) {
-    final DatanodeDescriptor dn = datanodeManager.getDatanode(storageId);
-    if (dn == null) {
-      remove(storageId);
-      return 0;
-    }
-    final List<Block> toInvalidate = invalidateWork(storageId, dn);
-    if (toInvalidate == null) {
-      return 0;
-    }
-
-    if (NameNode.stateChangeLog.isInfoEnabled()) {
-      NameNode.stateChangeLog.info("BLOCK* " + getClass().getSimpleName()
-          + ": ask " + dn + " to delete " + toInvalidate);
-    }
-    return toInvalidate.size();
-  }
-
-  private synchronized List<Block> invalidateWork(
+  synchronized List<Block> invalidateWork(
       final String storageId, final DatanodeDescriptor dn) {
     final LightWeightHashSet<Block> set = node2blocks.get(storageId);
     if (set == null) {