diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkAction.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkAction.java
index d764311dbd9..1289fa352e5 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkAction.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkAction.java
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ public class TransportBulkAction extends HandledTransportAction<BulkRequest, Bul
     @Override
     protected void doExecute(final BulkRequest bulkRequest, final ActionListener<BulkResponse> listener) {
         final long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
-        final AtomicArray<BulkItemResponse> responses = new AtomicArray<BulkItemResponse>(bulkRequest.requests.size());
+        final AtomicArray<BulkItemResponse> responses = new AtomicArray<>(bulkRequest.requests.size());
 
         if (autoCreateIndex.needToCheck()) {
             final Set<String> indices = Sets.newHashSet();
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ public class TransportBulkAction extends HandledTransportAction<BulkRequest, Bul
             ClusterState state = clusterService.state();
             for (final String index : indices) {
                 if (autoCreateIndex.shouldAutoCreate(index, state)) {
-                    createIndexAction.execute(new CreateIndexRequest(index).cause("auto(bulk api)"), new ActionListener<CreateIndexResponse>() {
+                    createIndexAction.execute(new CreateIndexRequest(index).cause("auto(bulk api)").masterNodeTimeout(bulkRequest.timeout()), new ActionListener<CreateIndexResponse>() {
                         @Override
                         public void onResponse(CreateIndexResponse result) {
                             if (counter.decrementAndGet() == 0) {
@@ -145,7 +145,11 @@ public class TransportBulkAction extends HandledTransportAction<BulkRequest, Bul
                                 }
                             }
                             if (counter.decrementAndGet() == 0) {
-                                executeBulk(bulkRequest, startTime, listener, responses);
+                                try {
+                                    executeBulk(bulkRequest, startTime, listener, responses);
+                                } catch (Throwable t) {
+                                    listener.onFailure(t);
+                                }
                             }
                         }
                     });
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/NoMasterNodeTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/NoMasterNodeTests.java
index cd7996f77dd..3d74be67f13 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/NoMasterNodeTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/NoMasterNodeTests.java
@@ -19,13 +19,14 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.cluster;
 
-import com.google.common.base.Predicate;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.BulkRequestBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.percolate.PercolateSourceBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.block.ClusterBlockException;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.discovery.Discovery;
+import org.elasticsearch.discovery.MasterNotDiscoveredException;
 import org.elasticsearch.rest.RestStatus;
 import org.elasticsearch.script.ScriptService;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ElasticsearchIntegrationTest;
@@ -36,21 +37,24 @@ import org.junit.Test;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.common.settings.ImmutableSettings.settingsBuilder;
-import static org.elasticsearch.test.ElasticsearchIntegrationTest.*;
-import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
-import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.greaterThan;
+import static org.elasticsearch.test.ElasticsearchIntegrationTest.Scope;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.*;
 
 /**
  */
-@ClusterScope(scope= Scope.TEST, numDataNodes =0)
+@ClusterScope(scope = Scope.TEST, numDataNodes = 0)
 public class NoMasterNodeTests extends ElasticsearchIntegrationTest {
 
     @Test
     @TestLogging("action:TRACE,cluster.service:TRACE")
     public void testNoMasterActions() throws Exception {
+        // note, sometimes, we want to check with the fact that an index gets created, sometimes not...
+        boolean autoCreateIndex = randomBoolean();
+        logger.info("auto_create_index set to {}", autoCreateIndex);
+
         Settings settings = settingsBuilder()
                 .put("discovery.type", "zen")
-                .put("action.auto_create_index", false)
+                .put("action.auto_create_index", autoCreateIndex)
                 .put("discovery.zen.minimum_master_nodes", 2)
                 .put("discovery.zen.ping_timeout", "200ms")
                 .put("discovery.initial_state_timeout", "500ms")
@@ -75,14 +79,14 @@ public class NoMasterNodeTests extends ElasticsearchIntegrationTest {
         try {
             client().prepareGet("test", "type1", "1").execute().actionGet();
             fail("Expected ClusterBlockException");
-        } catch (ClusterBlockException e) {
+        } catch (ClusterBlockException | MasterNotDiscoveredException e) {
             assertThat(e.status(), equalTo(RestStatus.SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE));
         }
 
         try {
             client().prepareMultiGet().add("test", "type1", "1").execute().actionGet();
             fail("Expected ClusterBlockException");
-        } catch (ClusterBlockException e) {
+        } catch (ClusterBlockException | MasterNotDiscoveredException e) {
             assertThat(e.status(), equalTo(RestStatus.SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE));
         }
 
@@ -93,7 +97,7 @@ public class NoMasterNodeTests extends ElasticsearchIntegrationTest {
                     .setIndices("test").setDocumentType("type1")
                     .setSource(percolateSource).execute().actionGet();
             fail("Expected ClusterBlockException");
-        } catch (ClusterBlockException e) {
+        } catch (ClusterBlockException | MasterNotDiscoveredException e) {
             assertThat(e.status(), equalTo(RestStatus.SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE));
         }
 
@@ -101,7 +105,7 @@ public class NoMasterNodeTests extends ElasticsearchIntegrationTest {
         try {
             client().prepareUpdate("test", "type1", "1").setScript("test script", ScriptService.ScriptType.INLINE).setTimeout(timeout).execute().actionGet();
             fail("Expected ClusterBlockException");
-        } catch (ClusterBlockException e) {
+        } catch (ClusterBlockException | MasterNotDiscoveredException e) {
             assertThat(System.currentTimeMillis() - now, greaterThan(timeout.millis() - 50));
             assertThat(e.status(), equalTo(RestStatus.SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE));
         }
@@ -109,14 +113,14 @@ public class NoMasterNodeTests extends ElasticsearchIntegrationTest {
         try {
             client().admin().indices().prepareAnalyze("test", "this is a test").execute().actionGet();
             fail("Expected ClusterBlockException");
-        } catch (ClusterBlockException e) {
+        } catch (ClusterBlockException | MasterNotDiscoveredException e) {
             assertThat(e.status(), equalTo(RestStatus.SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE));
         }
 
         try {
             client().prepareCount("test").execute().actionGet();
             fail("Expected ClusterBlockException");
-        } catch (ClusterBlockException e) {
+        } catch (ClusterBlockException | MasterNotDiscoveredException e) {
             assertThat(e.status(), equalTo(RestStatus.SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE));
         }
 
@@ -124,11 +128,30 @@ public class NoMasterNodeTests extends ElasticsearchIntegrationTest {
         try {
             client().prepareIndex("test", "type1", "1").setSource(XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().startObject().endObject()).setTimeout(timeout).execute().actionGet();
             fail("Expected ClusterBlockException");
-        } catch (ClusterBlockException e) {
+        } catch (ClusterBlockException | MasterNotDiscoveredException e) {
             assertThat(System.currentTimeMillis() - now, greaterThan(timeout.millis() - 50));
             assertThat(e.status(), equalTo(RestStatus.SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE));
         }
 
+        now = System.currentTimeMillis();
+        try {
+            BulkRequestBuilder bulkRequestBuilder = client().prepareBulk();
+            bulkRequestBuilder.add(client().prepareIndex("test", "type1", "1").setSource(XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().startObject().endObject()));
+            bulkRequestBuilder.add(client().prepareIndex("test", "type1", "2").setSource(XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().startObject().endObject()));
+            bulkRequestBuilder.setTimeout(timeout);
+            bulkRequestBuilder.get();
+            fail("Expected ClusterBlockException");
+        } catch (ClusterBlockException | MasterNotDiscoveredException e) {
+            if (autoCreateIndex) {
+                // if its auto create index, the timeout will be based on the create index API
+                assertThat(System.currentTimeMillis() - now, greaterThan(timeout.millis() - 50));
+            } else {
+                // TODO note, today we don't retry on global block for bulk operations-Dtests.seed=80C397728140167
+                assertThat(System.currentTimeMillis() - now, lessThan(50l));
+            }
+            assertThat(e.status(), equalTo(RestStatus.SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE));
+        }
+
         internalCluster().startNode(settings);
         client().admin().cluster().prepareHealth().setWaitForGreenStatus().setWaitForNodes("2").execute().actionGet();
     }