diff --git a/client/client.go b/client/client.go
index a023f9c29..7e5796d74 100644
--- a/client/client.go
+++ b/client/client.go
@@ -832,31 +832,24 @@ func (c *Client) httpRequest(method string, path string, data []byte, headers ma
 		body   []byte
 		err    error
 	)
-	// try at most maxHosts non-failed hosts; protect against broken cluster.removeHost
-	for i := 0; i < maxHosts; i++ {
+	// try request on host, if it fails, try again on primary
+	for i := 0; i <= 1; i++ {
 		host, herr := c.host(usePrimary)
 		if herr != nil {
 			return status, nil, errors.Wrapf(herr, "getting host, previous err: %v", err)
 		}
 		// doRequest implements expotential backoff
 		status, body, err = c.doRequest(host, method, path, c.augmentHeaders(headers), data)
-		if err == nil {
+		// conditions when primary should not be tried
+		if err == nil || usePrimary || path == "/status" {
 			break
 		}
-		if c.manualServerURI == nil {
-			if usePrimary {
-				c.primaryLock.Lock()
-				c.primaryURI = nil
-				c.primaryLock.Unlock()
-			} else {
-				c.logger.Printf("removing host (%s) due to '%v'\n", host.Normalize(), err)
-				c.cluster.RemoveHost(host)
-			}
-		}
+
+		usePrimary = true
 	}
 
 	if err != nil {
-		err = errors.Wrap(err, ErrTriedMaxHosts.Error())
+		err = errors.Wrap(err, ErrHTTPRequest.Error())
 	}
 
 	return status, body, err
diff --git a/client/client_it_test.go b/client/client_it_test.go
index ff8614d78..a58622bc8 100644
--- a/client/client_it_test.go
+++ b/client/client_it_test.go
@@ -497,7 +497,7 @@ func TestClientAgainstCluster(t *testing.T) {
 				tmpcli, _ := NewClient(NewClusterWithHost(uri, uri, uri, uri), OptClientRetries(0))
 
 				_, err := tmpcli.Query(testIndex.All())
-				require.Error(t, err, ErrTriedMaxHosts)
+				require.Error(t, err, ErrHTTPRequest)
 			})
 
 			t.Run("InvalidQuery", func(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/client/cluster.go b/client/cluster.go
index 0f1230583..cda424905 100644
--- a/client/cluster.go
+++ b/client/cluster.go
@@ -65,18 +65,6 @@ func (c *Cluster) Host() *pnet.URI {
 	return host
 }
 
-// RemoveHost black lists the host with the given pnet.URI from the cluster.
-func (c *Cluster) RemoveHost(address *pnet.URI) {
-	c.mutex.Lock()
-	defer c.mutex.Unlock()
-	for i, uri := range c.hosts {
-		if uri.Equals(address) {
-			c.okList[i] = false
-			break
-		}
-	}
-}
-
 // Hosts returns all available hosts in the cluster.
 func (c *Cluster) Hosts() []pnet.URI {
 	c.mutex.RLock()
diff --git a/client/cluster_test.go b/client/cluster_test.go
index 36790b7f8..53d63222a 100644
--- a/client/cluster_test.go
+++ b/client/cluster_test.go
@@ -49,22 +49,3 @@ func TestHosts(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("Host should return a value if there are hosts in the cluster")
 	}
 }
-
-func TestRemoveHost(t *testing.T) {
-	uri, err := pnet.NewURIFromAddress("index1.pilosa.com:9999")
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err)
-	}
-	c := NewClusterWithHost(uri)
-	if len(c.hosts) != 1 {
-		t.Fatalf("The cluster should contain the host")
-	}
-	uri, err = pnet.NewURIFromAddress("index1.pilosa.com:9999")
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err)
-	}
-	c.RemoveHost(uri)
-	if len(c.Hosts()) != 0 {
-		t.Fatalf("The cluster should not contain the host")
-	}
-}
diff --git a/client/error.go b/client/error.go
index 3c6685b62..f0fbb873f 100644
--- a/client/error.go
+++ b/client/error.go
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ var (
 	ErrInvalidFieldName            = errors.New("Invalid field name")
 	ErrInvalidLabel                = errors.New("Invalid label")
 	ErrInvalidKey                  = errors.New("Invalid key")
-	ErrTriedMaxHosts               = errors.New("Tried max hosts, still failing")
+	ErrHTTPRequest                 = errors.New("Failed all HTTP retries")
 	ErrAddrURIClusterExpected      = errors.New("Addresses, URIs or a cluster is expected")
 	ErrInvalidQueryOption          = errors.New("Invalid query option")
 	ErrInvalidIndexOption          = errors.New("Invalid index option")
diff --git a/client/ingest_api_batch_test.go b/client/ingest_api_batch_test.go
index 9abfa15c6..bc6858c12 100644
--- a/client/ingest_api_batch_test.go
+++ b/client/ingest_api_batch_test.go
@@ -133,7 +133,6 @@ func TestIngestAPIBatchAdd(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestIngestAPIBatch(t *testing.T) {
-	t.Skip("causing sporadic CI failures... on my list to debug, but this code doesn't affect anyone's production anyhow (jaffee)")
 	c := test.MustRunCluster(t, 3)
 	defer c.Close()