diff --git a/lib/sync.js b/lib/sync.js
index 49c48b2ce..48314f7b9 100644
--- a/lib/sync.js
+++ b/lib/sync.js
@@ -66,7 +66,6 @@ function SyncApi(client, opts) {
     opts.pendingEventOrdering = opts.pendingEventOrdering || "chronological";
     this.opts = opts;
     this._peekRoomId = null;
-    this._syncConnectionLost = false;
     this._currentSyncRequest = null;
     this._syncState = null;
     this._running = false;
@@ -491,7 +490,7 @@ SyncApi.prototype._sync = function(syncOptions) {
         qps._cacheBuster = Date.now();
     }
 
-    if (self._syncConnectionLost) {
+    if (this.getSyncState() == 'ERROR' || this.getSyncState() == 'RECONNECTING') {
         // we think the connection is dead. If it comes back up, we won't know
         // about it till /sync returns. If the timeout= is high, this could
         // be a long time. Set it to 0 when doing retries so we don't have to wait
@@ -507,8 +506,6 @@ SyncApi.prototype._sync = function(syncOptions) {
     );
 
     this._currentSyncRequest.done(function(data) {
-        self._syncConnectionLost = false;
-
         // set the sync token NOW *before* processing the events. We do this so
         // if something barfs on an event we can skip it rather than constantly
         // polling with the same token.
@@ -908,13 +905,12 @@ SyncApi.prototype._pokeKeepAlive = function() {
                 self._pokeKeepAlive.bind(self),
                 5000 + Math.floor(Math.random() * 5000)
             );
-            // If we haven't already marked this sync
-            // connection as gone-away, do so now and
-            // emit an error.
+            // A keepalive has failed, so we emit the
+            // error state (whether or not this is the
+            // first failure).
             // Note we do this after setting the timer:
             // this lets the unit tests advance the mock
             // clock when the get the error.
-            self._syncConnectionLost = true;
             self._updateSyncState("ERROR", { error: err });
         }
     });