diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ThreadPool.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ThreadPool.java
index fb9c200a953..c1b6a50a4a0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ThreadPool.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ThreadPool.java
@@ -125,6 +125,9 @@ public class ThreadPool extends AbstractComponent {
             executors.put(executor.getKey(), build(executor.getKey(), groupSettings.get(executor.getKey()), executor.getValue()));
         }
         executors.put(Names.SAME, new ExecutorHolder(MoreExecutors.sameThreadExecutor(), new Info(Names.SAME, "same")));
+        if (!executors.get(Names.GENERIC).info.getType().equals("cached")) {
+            throw new ElasticSearchIllegalArgumentException("generic thread pool must be of type cached");
+        }
         this.executors = ImmutableMap.copyOf(executors);
         this.scheduler = new ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor(1, EsExecutors.daemonThreadFactory(settings, "scheduler"), new EsAbortPolicy());
         this.scheduler.setExecuteExistingDelayedTasksAfterShutdownPolicy(false);
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/TestCluster.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/TestCluster.java
index a49e2ee2de0..922d65c2ffc 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/TestCluster.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/TestCluster.java
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ public final class TestCluster implements Iterable<Client> {
         }
         if (random.nextBoolean()) {
             // change threadpool types to make sure we don't have components that rely on the type of thread pools
-            for (String name : Arrays.asList(ThreadPool.Names.BULK, ThreadPool.Names.FLUSH, ThreadPool.Names.GENERIC, ThreadPool.Names.GET,
+            for (String name : Arrays.asList(ThreadPool.Names.BULK, ThreadPool.Names.FLUSH, ThreadPool.Names.GET,
                     ThreadPool.Names.INDEX, ThreadPool.Names.MANAGEMENT, ThreadPool.Names.MERGE, ThreadPool.Names.OPTIMIZE,
                     ThreadPool.Names.PERCOLATE, ThreadPool.Names.REFRESH, ThreadPool.Names.SEARCH, ThreadPool.Names.SNAPSHOT,
                     ThreadPool.Names.SUGGEST, ThreadPool.Names.WARMER)) {