diff --git a/modules/@angular/router/src/url_tree.ts b/modules/@angular/router/src/url_tree.ts
index 55b950ab9a..2e6350cb80 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/router/src/url_tree.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/router/src/url_tree.ts
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ class UrlParser {
       return;
     }
     this.capture(key);
-    let value: any = 'true';
+    let value: any = '';
     if (this.peekStartsWith('=')) {
       this.capture('=');
       var valueMatch = matchUrlQueryParamValue(this.remaining);
diff --git a/modules/@angular/router/test/url_serializer.spec.ts b/modules/@angular/router/test/url_serializer.spec.ts
index a8081311ae..65a0def53c 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/router/test/url_serializer.spec.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/router/test/url_serializer.spec.ts
@@ -142,12 +142,22 @@ describe('url serializer', () => {
 
   it('should parse key only query params', () => {
     const tree = url.parse('/one?a');
-    expect(tree.queryParams).toEqual({a: 'true'});
+    expect(tree.queryParams).toEqual({a: ''});
+  });
+
+  it('should parse a value-empty query param', () => {
+    const tree = url.parse('/one?a=');
+    expect(tree.queryParams).toEqual({a: ''});
+  });
+
+  it('should parse value-empty query params', () => {
+    const tree = url.parse('/one?a=&b=');
+    expect(tree.queryParams).toEqual({a: '', b: ''});
   });
 
   it('should serializer query params', () => {
     const tree = url.parse('/one?a');
-    expect(url.serialize(tree)).toEqual('/one?a=true');
+    expect(url.serialize(tree)).toEqual('/one?a=');
   });
 
   it('should parse fragment', () => {