diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/util.go b/test/e2e/framework/util.go
index 36d88ef2d21..a3d99d92c20 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/util.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/util.go
@@ -116,6 +116,9 @@ const (
 	// minutes by slow docker pulls or something else.
 	PodStartShortTimeout = 1 * time.Minute
 
+	// How long to wait for a pod to be deleted
+	PodDeleteTimeout = 5 * time.Minute
+
 	// If there are any orphaned namespaces to clean up, this test is running
 	// on a long lived cluster. A long wait here is preferably to spurious test
 	// failures caused by leaked resources from a previous test run.
diff --git a/test/e2e/storage/utils/BUILD b/test/e2e/storage/utils/BUILD
index 7f7debdce11..c61481826ed 100644
--- a/test/e2e/storage/utils/BUILD
+++ b/test/e2e/storage/utils/BUILD
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ go_library(
         "//vendor/github.com/onsi/ginkgo:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/github.com/onsi/gomega:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/api/core/v1:go_default_library",
-        "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes:go_default_library",
     ],
diff --git a/test/e2e/storage/utils/utils.go b/test/e2e/storage/utils/utils.go
index e269a4630e9..1835cecdb97 100644
--- a/test/e2e/storage/utils/utils.go
+++ b/test/e2e/storage/utils/utils.go
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ import (
 	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo"
 	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
 	"k8s.io/api/core/v1"
-	apierrs "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	clientset "k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/test/e2e/framework"
@@ -191,14 +190,11 @@ func TestVolumeUnmountsFromDeletedPodWithForceOption(c clientset.Interface, f *f
 	}
 	Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
 
-	// Wait for pod to enter "Terminating state"
-	time.Sleep(30 * time.Second)
-
 	By("Starting the kubelet and waiting for pod to delete.")
 	KubeletCommand(KStart, c, clientPod)
-	err = f.WaitForPodTerminated(clientPod.Name, "")
-	if !apierrs.IsNotFound(err) && err != nil {
-		Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred(), "Expected pod to terminate.")
+	err = f.WaitForPodNotFound(clientPod.Name, framework.PodDeleteTimeout)
+	if err != nil {
+		Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred(), "Expected pod to be not found.")
 	}
 
 	if forceDelete {