diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/service/InternalIndexService.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/service/InternalIndexService.java
index 2e77653183a..9775d3127c5 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/service/InternalIndexService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/service/InternalIndexService.java
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ package org.elasticsearch.index.service;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
-import com.google.common.collect.Sets;
 import com.google.common.collect.UnmodifiableIterator;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.IOUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchException;
@@ -30,7 +29,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.*;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.AbstractRunnable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.CountDown;
 import org.elasticsearch.env.NodeEnvironment;
 import org.elasticsearch.env.ShardLock;
@@ -84,16 +82,12 @@ import org.elasticsearch.indices.IndicesService;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.InternalIndicesLifecycle;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.PluginsService;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.ShardsPluginsModule;
-import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.concurrent.CopyOnWriteArrayList;
-import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
-import java.util.concurrent.Executor;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 
@@ -109,8 +103,6 @@ public class InternalIndexService extends AbstractIndexComponent implements Inde
 
     private final Settings indexSettings;
 
-    private final ThreadPool threadPool;
-
     private final PluginsService pluginsService;
 
     private final InternalIndicesLifecycle indicesLifecycle;
@@ -148,14 +140,13 @@ public class InternalIndexService extends AbstractIndexComponent implements Inde
     private final AtomicBoolean closed = new AtomicBoolean(false);
 
     @Inject
-    public InternalIndexService(Injector injector, Index index, @IndexSettings Settings indexSettings, NodeEnvironment nodeEnv, ThreadPool threadPool,
+    public InternalIndexService(Injector injector, Index index, @IndexSettings Settings indexSettings, NodeEnvironment nodeEnv,
                                 AnalysisService analysisService, MapperService mapperService, IndexQueryParserService queryParserService,
                                 SimilarityService similarityService, IndexAliasesService aliasesService, IndexCache indexCache, IndexEngine indexEngine,
                                 IndexGateway indexGateway, IndexStore indexStore, IndexSettingsService settingsService, IndexFieldDataService indexFieldData,
                                 BitsetFilterCache bitSetFilterCache ) {
         super(index, indexSettings);
         this.injector = injector;
-        this.threadPool = threadPool;
         this.indexSettings = indexSettings;
         this.analysisService = analysisService;
         this.mapperService = mapperService;
@@ -279,37 +270,19 @@ public class InternalIndexService extends AbstractIndexComponent implements Inde
         return indexEngine;
     }
 
-    public void close(final String reason, @Nullable Executor executor, final IndicesService.IndexCloseListener listener) {
-       if (closed.compareAndSet(false, true)) {
-           final Set<Integer> shardIds = shardIds();
-           final CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(shardIds.size());
-           final IndicesService.IndexCloseListener innerListener = listener == null ? null :
-                   new PerShardIndexCloseListener(shardIds, listener);
-           for (final int shardId : shardIds) {
-               executor = executor == null ? threadPool.generic() : executor;
-               executor.execute(new AbstractRunnable() {
-                   @Override
-                   public void onFailure(Throwable t) {
-                       logger.warn("failed to close shard", t);
-                   }
-
-                   @Override
-                   public void doRun() {
-                       try {
-                           removeShard(shardId, reason, innerListener);
-                       } finally {
-                           latch.countDown();
-                       }
-                   }
-               });
-           }
-           try {
-               latch.await();
-           } catch (InterruptedException e) {
-               logger.debug("Interrupted closing index [{}]", e, index().name());
-               Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
-           }
-       }
+    public synchronized void close(final String reason, final IndicesService.IndexCloseListener listener) {
+        if (closed.compareAndSet(false, true)) {
+            final Set<Integer> shardIds = shardIds();
+            final IndicesService.IndexCloseListener innerListener = listener == null ? null :
+                    new PerShardIndexCloseListener(shardIds, listener);
+            for (final int shardId : shardIds) {
+                try {
+                    removeShard(shardId, reason, innerListener);
+                } catch (Throwable t) {
+                    logger.warn("failed to close shard", t);
+                }
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/InternalIndicesService.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/InternalIndicesService.java
index 5e0ea93e94e..47a05f4c036 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/InternalIndicesService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/InternalIndicesService.java
@@ -65,7 +65,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.service.IndexShard;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.similarity.SimilarityModule;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.store.IndexStore;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.store.IndexStoreModule;
-import org.elasticsearch.index.store.Store;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.analysis.IndicesAnalysisService;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.recovery.RecoverySettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.store.IndicesStore;
@@ -75,8 +74,10 @@ import org.elasticsearch.plugins.PluginsService;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
-import java.util.concurrent.*;
-import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
+import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
 import static com.google.common.collect.Maps.newHashMap;
 import static org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_REPLICAS;
@@ -128,22 +129,25 @@ public class InternalIndicesService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<IndicesSe
         final CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(indices.size());
 
         final ExecutorService indicesStopExecutor = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(5, EsExecutors.daemonThreadFactory("indices_shutdown"));
-        final ExecutorService shardsStopExecutor = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(5, EsExecutors.daemonThreadFactory("shards_shutdown"));
 
         for (final String index : indices) {
             indicesStopExecutor.execute(new Runnable() {
                 @Override
                 public void run() {
                     try {
-                        removeIndex(index, "shutdown", shardsStopExecutor, new IndexCloseListener() {
+                        removeIndex(index, "shutdown", new IndexCloseListener() {
                             @Override
                             public void onAllShardsClosed(Index index, List<Throwable> failures) {
                                 latch.countDown();
                             }
+
                             @Override
-                            public void onShardClosed(ShardId shardId) {}
+                            public void onShardClosed(ShardId shardId) {
+                            }
+
                             @Override
-                            public void onShardCloseFailed(ShardId shardId, Throwable t) {}
+                            public void onShardCloseFailed(ShardId shardId, Throwable t) {
+                            }
                         });
                     } catch (Throwable e) {
                         latch.countDown();
@@ -159,7 +163,6 @@ public class InternalIndicesService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<IndicesSe
         } catch (InterruptedException e) {
             // ignore
         } finally {
-            shardsStopExecutor.shutdown();
             indicesStopExecutor.shutdown();
         }
     }
@@ -325,26 +328,24 @@ public class InternalIndicesService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<IndicesSe
 
     @Override
     public void removeIndex(String index, String reason) throws ElasticsearchException {
-        removeIndex(index, reason, null, null);
+        removeIndex(index, reason, null);
     }
 
     @Override
     public void removeIndex(String index, String reason, @Nullable  IndexCloseListener listener) throws ElasticsearchException {
-        removeIndex(index, reason, null, listener);
-    }
+        final IndexService indexService;
+        final Injector indexInjector;
+        synchronized (this) {
+            indexInjector = indicesInjectors.remove(index);
+            if (indexInjector == null) {
+                return;
+            }
 
-    private synchronized void removeIndex(String index, String reason, @Nullable Executor executor,  @Nullable IndexCloseListener listener) throws ElasticsearchException {
-        IndexService indexService;
-        Injector indexInjector = indicesInjectors.remove(index);
-        if (indexInjector == null) {
-            return;
+            logger.debug("[{}] closing ... (reason [{}])", index, reason);
+            Map<String, IndexService> tmpMap = newHashMap(indices);
+            indexService = tmpMap.remove(index);
+            indices = ImmutableMap.copyOf(tmpMap);
         }
-
-        logger.debug("[{}] closing ... (reason [{}])", index, reason);
-        Map<String, IndexService> tmpMap = newHashMap(indices);
-        indexService = tmpMap.remove(index);
-        indices = ImmutableMap.copyOf(tmpMap);
-
         indicesLifecycle.beforeIndexClosed(indexService);
 
         for (Class<? extends CloseableIndexComponent> closeable : pluginsService.indexServices()) {
@@ -352,7 +353,7 @@ public class InternalIndicesService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<IndicesSe
         }
 
         logger.debug("[{}] closing index service", index, reason);
-        ((InternalIndexService) indexService).close(reason, executor, listener);
+        ((InternalIndexService) indexService).close(reason, listener);
 
         logger.debug("[{}] closing index cache", index, reason);
         indexInjector.getInstance(IndexCache.class).close();