diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/pod/wait.go b/test/e2e/framework/pod/wait.go
index add50187cfa..076bdcc525f 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/pod/wait.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/pod/wait.go
@@ -276,14 +276,15 @@ func WaitForPodCondition(c clientset.Interface, ns, podName, conditionDesc strin
 	if err == nil {
 		return nil
 	}
-	if IsTimeout(err) && lastPod != nil {
-		return TimeoutError(fmt.Sprintf("timed out while waiting for pod %s to be %s", podIdentifier(ns, podName), conditionDesc),
-			lastPod,
-		)
-	}
-	if lastPodError != nil {
-		// If the last API call was an error.
-		err = lastPodError
+	if IsTimeout(err) {
+		if lastPod != nil {
+			return TimeoutError(fmt.Sprintf("timed out while waiting for pod %s to be %s", podIdentifier(ns, podName), conditionDesc),
+				lastPod,
+			)
+		} else if lastPodError != nil {
+			// If the last API call was an error, propagate that instead of the timeout error.
+			err = lastPodError
+		}
 	}
 	return maybeTimeoutError(err, "waiting for pod %s to be %s", podIdentifier(ns, podName), conditionDesc)
 }