diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/CloseJobAction.java b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/CloseJobAction.java
index c66cf1716cf..e31a63edff5 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/CloseJobAction.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/CloseJobAction.java
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ public class CloseJobAction extends Action<CloseJobAction.Request, CloseJobActio
     public static class Request extends ActionRequest {
 
         private String jobId;
-        private TimeValue closeTimeout = TimeValue.timeValueMinutes(30);
+        private TimeValue closeTimeout = TimeValue.timeValueMinutes(20);
 
         Request() {}
 
diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/OpenJobAction.java b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/OpenJobAction.java
index 7e1f0207988..6f8ba5a5118 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/OpenJobAction.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/OpenJobAction.java
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ public class OpenJobAction extends Action<OpenJobAction.Request, OpenJobAction.R
 
         private String jobId;
         private boolean ignoreDowntime;
-        private TimeValue openTimeout = TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(30);
+        private TimeValue openTimeout = TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(20);
 
         public Request(String jobId) {
             this.jobId = ExceptionsHelper.requireNonNull(jobId, Job.ID.getPreferredName());
diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/StartDatafeedAction.java b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/StartDatafeedAction.java
index 26de38f8e7c..2699daca391 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/StartDatafeedAction.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/StartDatafeedAction.java
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ public class StartDatafeedAction
         private String datafeedId;
         private long startTime;
         private Long endTime;
-        private TimeValue startTimeout = TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(30);
+        private TimeValue startTimeout = TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(20);
 
         public Request(String datafeedId, long startTime) {
             this.datafeedId = ExceptionsHelper.requireNonNull(datafeedId, DatafeedConfig.ID.getPreferredName());
@@ -258,7 +258,6 @@ public class StartDatafeedAction
                 } else {
                     listener.onResponse(new Response(true));
                 }
-
             });
         }
     }
diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/StopDatafeedAction.java b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/StopDatafeedAction.java
index 2d7068d7e6f..abcabce54f9 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/StopDatafeedAction.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/StopDatafeedAction.java
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ public class StopDatafeedAction
     public static class Request extends ActionRequest {
 
         private String datafeedId;
-        private TimeValue stopTimeout = TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(30);
+        private TimeValue stopTimeout = TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(20);
 
         public Request(String jobId) {
             this.datafeedId = ExceptionsHelper.requireNonNull(jobId, DatafeedConfig.ID.getPreferredName());
diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/datafeed/Datafeed.java b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/datafeed/Datafeed.java
index 6ebcf9052ef..914384a3afc 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/datafeed/Datafeed.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/datafeed/Datafeed.java
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ConstructingObjectParser;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ObjectParser;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Objects;
@@ -91,4 +92,19 @@ public class Datafeed extends AbstractDiffable<Datafeed> implements ToXContent {
     public int hashCode() {
         return Objects.hash(config, status);
     }
+
+    // Class already extends from AbstractDiffable, so copied from ToXContentToBytes#toString()
+    @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
+    @Override
+    public final String toString() {
+        try {
+            XContentBuilder builder = XContentFactory.jsonBuilder();
+            builder.prettyPrint();
+            toXContent(builder, EMPTY_PARAMS);
+            return builder.string();
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            // So we have a stack trace logged somewhere
+            return "{ \"error\" : \"" + org.elasticsearch.ExceptionsHelper.detailedMessage(e) + "\"}";
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/metadata/Allocation.java b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/metadata/Allocation.java
index ea3c735ce4e..14d7b2fb5ee 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/metadata/Allocation.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/metadata/Allocation.java
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ public class Allocation extends AbstractDiffable<Allocation> implements ToXConte
         return Objects.hash(nodeId, jobId, ignoreDowntime, status, statusReason);
     }
 
-    // Class alreadt extends from AbstractDiffable, so copied from ToXContentToBytes#toString()
+    // Class already extends from AbstractDiffable, so copied from ToXContentToBytes#toString()
     @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
     @Override
     public final String toString() {
diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/utils/DatafeedStatusObserver.java b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/utils/DatafeedStatusObserver.java
index c26add13b97..8904030665d 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/utils/DatafeedStatusObserver.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/utils/DatafeedStatusObserver.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ public class DatafeedStatusObserver {
     public void waitForStatus(String datafeedId, TimeValue waitTimeout, DatafeedStatus expectedStatus, Consumer<Exception> handler) {
         ClusterStateObserver observer =
                 new ClusterStateObserver(clusterService, LOGGER, threadPool.getThreadContext());
+        DatafeedPredicate datafeedPredicate = new DatafeedPredicate(datafeedId, expectedStatus);
         observer.waitForNextChange(new ClusterStateObserver.Listener() {
             @Override
             public void onNewClusterState(ClusterState state) {
@@ -49,11 +50,15 @@ public class DatafeedStatusObserver {
 
             @Override
             public void onTimeout(TimeValue timeout) {
-                Exception e = new IllegalArgumentException("Timeout expired while waiting for datafeed status to change to ["
-                        + expectedStatus + "]");
-                handler.accept(e);
+                if (datafeedPredicate.test(clusterService.state())) {
+                    handler.accept(null);
+                } else {
+                    Exception e = new IllegalArgumentException("Timeout expired while waiting for datafeed status to change to ["
+                            + expectedStatus + "]");
+                    handler.accept(e);
+                }
             }
-        }, new DatafeedPredicate(datafeedId, expectedStatus), waitTimeout);
+        }, datafeedPredicate, waitTimeout);
     }
 
     private static class DatafeedPredicate implements Predicate<ClusterState> {
diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/utils/JobStatusObserver.java b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/utils/JobStatusObserver.java
index 764f5d6e925..5500a73adf2 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/utils/JobStatusObserver.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/utils/JobStatusObserver.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ public class JobStatusObserver {
     public void waitForStatus(String jobId, TimeValue waitTimeout, JobStatus expectedStatus, Consumer<Exception> handler) {
         ClusterStateObserver observer =
                 new ClusterStateObserver(clusterService, LOGGER, threadPool.getThreadContext());
+        JobStatusPredicate jobStatusPredicate = new JobStatusPredicate(jobId, expectedStatus);
         observer.waitForNextChange(new ClusterStateObserver.Listener() {
             @Override
             public void onNewClusterState(ClusterState state) {
@@ -49,11 +50,15 @@ public class JobStatusObserver {
 
             @Override
             public void onTimeout(TimeValue timeout) {
-                Exception e = new IllegalArgumentException("Timeout expired while waiting for job status to change to ["
-                        + expectedStatus + "]");
-                handler.accept(e);
+                if (jobStatusPredicate.test(clusterService.state())) {
+                    handler.accept(null);
+                } else {
+                    Exception e = new IllegalArgumentException("Timeout expired while waiting for job status to change to ["
+                            + expectedStatus + "]");
+                    handler.accept(e);
+                }
             }
-        }, new JobStatusPredicate(jobId, expectedStatus), waitTimeout);
+        }, jobStatusPredicate, waitTimeout);
     }
 
     private static class JobStatusPredicate implements Predicate<ClusterState> {