diff --git a/logstash-core/lib/logstash/agent.rb b/logstash-core/lib/logstash/agent.rb
index 4f2537b3f..4e23dc8a7 100644
--- a/logstash-core/lib/logstash/agent.rb
+++ b/logstash-core/lib/logstash/agent.rb
@@ -281,12 +281,12 @@ class LogStash::Agent
     return unless pipeline.is_a?(LogStash::Pipeline)
     return if pipeline.ready?
     @logger.debug("starting pipeline", :id => id)
-    Thread.new do
+    t = Thread.new do
       LogStash::Util.set_thread_name("pipeline.#{id}")
       begin
         pipeline.run
       rescue => e
-        @reload_metric.namespace([id.to_sym, :reloads]) do |n|
+        @reload_metric.namespace([id.to_sym, :reloads]).tap do |n|
           n.increment(:failures)
           n.gauge(:last_error, { :message => e.message, :backtrace => e.backtrace})
           n.gauge(:last_failure_timestamp, LogStash::Timestamp.now)
@@ -294,7 +294,15 @@ class LogStash::Agent
         @logger.error("Pipeline aborted due to error", :exception => e, :backtrace => e.backtrace)
       end
     end
-    sleep 0.01 until pipeline.ready?
+    while true do
+      if !t.alive?
+        return false
+      elsif pipeline.ready?
+        return true
+      else
+        sleep 0.01
+      end
+    end
   end
 
   def stop_pipeline(id)
@@ -326,10 +334,11 @@ class LogStash::Agent
     stop_pipeline(pipeline_id)
     reset_pipeline_metrics(pipeline_id)
     @pipelines[pipeline_id] = new_pipeline
-    start_pipeline(pipeline_id)
-    @reload_metric.namespace([pipeline_id.to_sym, :reloads]).tap do |n|
-      n.increment(:successes)
-      n.gauge(:last_success_timestamp, LogStash::Timestamp.now)
+    if start_pipeline(pipeline_id) # pipeline started successfuly
+      @reload_metric.namespace([pipeline_id.to_sym, :reloads]).tap do |n|
+        n.increment(:successes)
+        n.gauge(:last_success_timestamp, LogStash::Timestamp.now)
+      end
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/logstash-core/spec/logstash/agent_spec.rb b/logstash-core/spec/logstash/agent_spec.rb
index 21b925c39..bafce331e 100644
--- a/logstash-core/spec/logstash/agent_spec.rb
+++ b/logstash-core/spec/logstash/agent_spec.rb
@@ -546,5 +546,43 @@ describe LogStash::Agent do
         expect(value).to be > 0
       end
     end
+
+    context "when reloading a config that raises exception on pipeline.run" do
+      let(:new_config) { "input { generator { count => 10000 } }" }
+      let(:new_config_generator_counter) { 500 }
+
+      class BrokenGenerator < LogStash::Inputs::Generator
+        def register
+          raise ArgumentError
+        end
+      end
+
+      before :each do
+
+        allow(LogStash::Plugin).to receive(:lookup).with("input", "generator").and_return(BrokenGenerator)
+
+        File.open(config_path, "w") do |f|
+          f.write(new_config)
+          f.fsync
+        end
+
+      end
+
+      it "does not increase the successful reload count" do
+        expect { subject.send(:"reload_pipeline!", "main") }.to_not change {
+          snapshot = subject.metric.collector.snapshot_metric
+          reload_metrics = snapshot.metric_store.get_with_path("/stats/pipelines")[:stats][:pipelines][:main][:reloads]
+          reload_metrics[:successes].value
+        }
+      end
+
+      it "increases the failured reload count" do
+        expect { subject.send(:"reload_pipeline!", "main") }.to change {
+          snapshot = subject.metric.collector.snapshot_metric
+          reload_metrics = snapshot.metric_store.get_with_path("/stats/pipelines")[:stats][:pipelines][:main][:reloads]
+          reload_metrics[:failures].value
+        }.by(1)
+      end
+    end
   end
 end