diff --git a/cluster/validate-cluster.sh b/cluster/validate-cluster.sh
index ab29e168282..c4b37da848c 100755
--- a/cluster/validate-cluster.sh
+++ b/cluster/validate-cluster.sh
@@ -14,11 +14,7 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-# Bring up a Kubernetes cluster.
-#
-# If the full release name (gs://<bucket>/<release>) is passed in then we take
-# that directly.  If not then we assume we are doing development stuff and take
-# the defaults in the release config.
+# Validates that the cluster is healthy.
 
 set -o errexit
 set -o nounset
@@ -28,12 +24,9 @@ KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/..
 source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/kube-env.sh"
 source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}/util.sh"
 
-get-password
-detect-master > /dev/null
-detect-minions > /dev/null
-
 MINIONS_FILE=/tmp/minions-$$
 trap 'rm -rf "${MINIONS_FILE}"' EXIT
+
 # Make several attempts to deal with slow cluster birth.
 attempt=0
 while true; do
@@ -54,62 +47,39 @@ done
 echo "Found ${found} nodes."
 cat -n "${MINIONS_FILE}"
 
-# On vSphere, use minion IPs as their names
-if [[ "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" == "vsphere" || "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" == "vagrant" || "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" == "libvirt-coreos" || "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" == "juju" ]]  ; then
-  MINION_NAMES=("${KUBE_MINION_IP_ADDRESSES[@]}")
-fi
+attempt=0
+while true; do
+  kubectl_output=$("${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/kubectl.sh" get cs)
 
-# On AWS we can't really name the minions, so just trust that if the number is right, the right names are there.
-if [[ "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" == "aws" ]]; then
-  MINION_NAMES=("$(cat ${MINIONS_FILE})")
-  # /healthz validation isn't working for some reason on AWS.  So just hope for the best.
-  # TODO: figure out why and fix, it must be working in some form, or else clusters wouldn't work.
-  echo "Kubelet health checking on AWS isn't currently supported, assuming everything is good..."
-  echo -e "${color_green}Cluster validation succeeded${color_norm}"
-  exit 0
-fi
+  # The "kubectl componentstatuses" output is four columns like this:
+  #
+  #     COMPONENT            HEALTH    MSG       ERR
+  #     controller-manager   Healthy   ok        nil
+  #
+  # Parse the output to capture the value of the second column("HEALTH"), then use grep to
+  # count the number of times it doesn't match "success".
+  # Because of the header, the actual unsuccessful count is 1 minus the count.
 
-for (( i=0; i<${#MINION_NAMES[@]}; i++)); do
-    # Grep returns an exit status of 1 when line is not found, so we need the : to always return a 0 exit status
-    count=$(grep -c "${MINION_NAMES[$i]}" "${MINIONS_FILE}") || :
-    if [[ "${count}" == "0" ]]; then
-      echo -e "${color_red}Failed to find ${MINION_NAMES[$i]}, cluster is probably broken.${color_norm}"
-      cat -n "${MINIONS_FILE}"
-      exit 1
-    fi
+  non_success_count=$(echo "${kubectl_output}" | \
+    sed -n 's/^\([[:alnum:][:punct:]]\+\)\s\+\([[:alnum:][:punct:]]\+\)\s\+.*/\2/p' | \
+    grep 'Healthy' --invert-match -c)
 
-    name="${MINION_NAMES[$i]}"
-    if [[ "$KUBERNETES_PROVIDER" != "vsphere" &&  "$KUBERNETES_PROVIDER" != "vagrant" && "$KUBERNETES_PROVIDER" != "libvirt-coreos" && "$KUBERNETES_PROVIDER" != "juju" ]]; then
-      # Grab fully qualified name
-      name=$(grep "${MINION_NAMES[$i]}\." "${MINIONS_FILE}")
-    fi
-
-    # Make sure the kubelet is healthy.
-    # Make several attempts to deal with slow cluster birth.
-    attempt=0
-    while true; do
-      echo -n "Attempt $((attempt+1)) at checking Kubelet installation on node ${MINION_NAMES[$i]} ..."
-      if [[ "$KUBERNETES_PROVIDER" != "libvirt-coreos" && "$KUBERNETES_PROVIDER" != "juju" ]]; then
-        curl_output=$(curl -s --insecure --user "${KUBE_USER}:${KUBE_PASSWORD}" \
-          "https://${KUBE_MASTER_IP}/api/v1beta1/proxy/minions/${name}/healthz")
-      else
-        curl_output=$(curl -s \
-          "http://${KUBE_MASTER_IP}:8080/api/v1beta1/proxy/minions/${name}/healthz")
-      fi
-      if [[ "${curl_output}" != "ok" ]]; then
-          if (( attempt > 5 )); then
-            echo
-            echo -e "${color_red}Kubelet failed to install on node ${MINION_NAMES[$i]}. Your cluster is unlikely to work correctly."
-            echo -e "Please run ./cluster/kube-down.sh and re-create the cluster. (sorry!)${color_norm}"
-            exit 1
-          fi
-      else
-          echo -e " ${color_green}[working]${color_norm}"
-          break
-      fi
-      echo -e " ${color_yellow}[not working yet]${color_norm}"
+  if ((non_success_count > 1)); then
+    if ((attempt < 5)); then
+      echo -e "${color_yellow}Cluster not working yet.${color_norm}"
       attempt=$((attempt+1))
       sleep 30
-    done
+    else
+      echo -e " ${color_yellow}Validate output:${color_norm}"
+      echo "${kubectl_output}"
+      echo -e "${color_red}Validation returned one or more failed components. Cluster is probably broken.${color_norm}"
+      exit 1
+    fi
+  else
+    break
+  fi
 done
+
+echo "Validate output:"
+echo "${kubectl_output}"
 echo -e "${color_green}Cluster validation succeeded${color_norm}"