diff --git a/api/agent/drivers/docker/docker_client.go b/api/agent/drivers/docker/docker_client.go
index 76b6ee842..e68fe6a35 100644
--- a/api/agent/drivers/docker/docker_client.go
+++ b/api/agent/drivers/docker/docker_client.go
@@ -100,12 +100,14 @@ type dockerWrap struct {
 
 func (d *dockerWrap) retry(ctx context.Context, f func() error) error {
 	var i int
+	var err error
 	span := opentracing.SpanFromContext(ctx)
 	defer func() { span.LogFields(log.Int("docker_call_retries", i)) }()
 
 	logger := common.Logger(ctx)
 	var b common.Backoff
-	for ; ; i++ {
+	// 10 retries w/o change to backoff is ~13s if ops take ~0 time
+	for ; i < 10; i++ {
 		select {
 		case <-ctx.Done():
 			span.LogFields(log.String("task", "fail.docker"))
@@ -114,7 +116,7 @@ func (d *dockerWrap) retry(ctx context.Context, f func() error) error {
 		default:
 		}
 
-		err := filter(ctx, f())
+		err = filter(ctx, f())
 		if common.IsTemporary(err) || isDocker50x(err) {
 			logger.WithError(err).Warn("docker temporary error, retrying")
 			b.Sleep(ctx)
@@ -126,6 +128,7 @@ func (d *dockerWrap) retry(ctx context.Context, f func() error) error {
 		}
 		return err
 	}
+	return err // TODO could return context.DeadlineExceeded which ~makes sense
 }
 
 func isDocker50x(err error) bool {
diff --git a/api/server/runner_test.go b/api/server/runner_test.go
index 63c4c5bf1..57de18adb 100644
--- a/api/server/runner_test.go
+++ b/api/server/runner_test.go
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ func TestRouteRunnerExecution(t *testing.T) {
 			{Path: "/myerror", AppName: "myapp", Image: "fnproject/fn-test-utils", Type: "sync", Memory: 128, Timeout: 30, IdleTimeout: 30, Headers: map[string][]string{"X-Function": {"Test"}}},
 			{Path: "/mydne", AppName: "myapp", Image: "fnproject/imagethatdoesnotexist", Type: "sync", Memory: 128, Timeout: 30, IdleTimeout: 30},
 			{Path: "/mydnehot", AppName: "myapp", Image: "fnproject/imagethatdoesnotexist", Type: "sync", Format: "http", Memory: 128, Timeout: 30, IdleTimeout: 30},
+			{Path: "/mydneregistry", AppName: "myapp", Image: "localhost:5000/fnproject/imagethatdoesnotexist", Type: "sync", Format: "http", Memory: 128, Timeout: 30, IdleTimeout: 30},
 			{Path: "/myoom", AppName: "myapp", Image: "fnproject/fn-test-utils", Type: "sync", Memory: 8, Timeout: 30, IdleTimeout: 30},
 		}, nil,
 	)
@@ -177,6 +178,9 @@ func TestRouteRunnerExecution(t *testing.T) {
 		{"/r/myapp/myerror", crasher, "GET", http.StatusBadGateway, expHeaders, "container exit code 2"},
 		{"/r/myapp/mydne", ``, "GET", http.StatusNotFound, nil, "pull access denied"},
 		{"/r/myapp/mydnehot", ``, "GET", http.StatusNotFound, nil, "pull access denied"},
+		// hit a registry that doesn't exist, make sure the real error body gets plumbed out
+		{"/r/myapp/mydneregistry", ``, "GET", http.StatusInternalServerError, nil, "connection refused"},
+
 		{"/r/myapp/myoom", oomer, "GET", http.StatusBadGateway, nil, "container out of memory"},
 	} {
 		body := strings.NewReader(test.body)