diff --git a/jetty-util/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/thread/TimeoutTest.java b/jetty-util/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/thread/TimeoutTest.java
index 6cbdb921e23..8833fdb49f8 100644
--- a/jetty-util/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/thread/TimeoutTest.java
+++ b/jetty-util/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/thread/TimeoutTest.java
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ package org.eclipse.jetty.util.thread;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicIntegerArray;
 
 import org.junit.Before;
@@ -131,8 +132,8 @@ public class TimeoutTest
     public void testStress() throws Exception
     {
         final int LOOP=250;
-        final boolean[] running = {true};
-        final AtomicIntegerArray count = new AtomicIntegerArray( 3 );
+        final AtomicBoolean running=new AtomicBoolean(true);
+        final AtomicIntegerArray count = new AtomicIntegerArray( 4 );
 
 
         timeout.setNow(System.currentTimeMillis());
@@ -144,7 +145,7 @@ public class TimeoutTest
             @Override
             public void run()
             {
-                while (running[0])
+                while (running.get())
                 {
                     try
                     {
@@ -199,18 +200,18 @@ public class TimeoutTest
                     
                     // do the looping until we are stopped
                     int loop=0;
-                    while (running[0])
+                    while (running.get())
                     {
                         try
                         {
                             long delay=1000;
                             long wait=100-once;
+                            
                             if (loop++==once)
                             { 
-                                // THIS loop is the one time we wait 1000ms
+                                // THIS loop is the one time we wait longer than the delay
                                 
-                                count.incrementAndGet( 1 );
-                              
+                                count.incrementAndGet( 1 );  
                                 delay=200;
                                 wait=1000;
                             }
@@ -228,25 +229,35 @@ public class TimeoutTest
                             e.printStackTrace();
                         }
                     }
+                    count.incrementAndGet(3);
                 }
             };
             th.start();
         }
         
-        // run test for 5s
-        Thread.sleep(8000);
-        synchronized (lock)
-        {
-            running[0]=false;
-        }
-        // give some time for test to stop
-        Thread.sleep(1000);
-        timeout.tick(System.currentTimeMillis());
-        Thread.sleep(500);
+        long start=System.currentTimeMillis();
+        
+        // run test until all threads are started
+        while (count.get(0)<LOOP && (System.currentTimeMillis()-start)<20000)
+            Thread.sleep(50);
+        // run test until all expires initiated
+        while (count.get(1)<LOOP && (System.currentTimeMillis()-start)<20000)
+            Thread.sleep(50);
+        
+        // run test until all expires initiated
+        while (count.get(2)<LOOP && (System.currentTimeMillis()-start)<20000)
+            Thread.sleep(50);
+        
+        running.set(false);
+
+        // run test until all threads complete
+        while (count.get(3)<LOOP && (System.currentTimeMillis()-start)<20000)
+            Thread.sleep(50);
         
         // check the counts
         assertEquals("count threads", LOOP,count.get( 0 ));
         assertEquals("count once waits",LOOP,count.get(1 ));
         assertEquals("count expires",LOOP,count.get(2));
+        assertEquals("done",LOOP,count.get(3));
     }
 }