diff --git a/src/osd/OSD.cc b/src/osd/OSD.cc
index 7518ac79732..43c13f1e074 100644
--- a/src/osd/OSD.cc
+++ b/src/osd/OSD.cc
@@ -9755,19 +9755,18 @@ void OSD::ShardedOpWQ::_process(uint32_t thread_index, heartbeat_handle_d *hb)
   sdata->sdata_op_ordering_lock.Lock();
   if (sdata->pqueue->empty()) {
     dout(20) << __func__ << " empty q, waiting" << dendl;
-    // optimistically sleep a moment; maybe another work item will come along.
-    osd->cct->get_heartbeat_map()->reset_timeout(hb,
-      osd->cct->_conf->threadpool_default_timeout, 0);
+    osd->cct->get_heartbeat_map()->clear_timeout(hb);
     sdata->sdata_lock.Lock();
     sdata->sdata_op_ordering_lock.Unlock();
-    sdata->sdata_cond.WaitInterval(sdata->sdata_lock,
-      utime_t(osd->cct->_conf->threadpool_empty_queue_max_wait, 0));
+    sdata->sdata_cond.Wait(sdata->sdata_lock);
     sdata->sdata_lock.Unlock();
     sdata->sdata_op_ordering_lock.Lock();
     if (sdata->pqueue->empty()) {
       sdata->sdata_op_ordering_lock.Unlock();
       return;
     }
+    osd->cct->get_heartbeat_map()->reset_timeout(hb,
+      osd->cct->_conf->threadpool_default_timeout, 0);
   }
   OpQueueItem item = sdata->pqueue->dequeue();
   if (osd->is_stopping()) {