diff --git a/lib/sendf.c b/lib/sendf.c
index 79f8d51fb..896e42c68 100644
--- a/lib/sendf.c
+++ b/lib/sendf.c
@@ -417,7 +417,6 @@ int Curl_read(struct connectdata *conn, /* connection data */
 
     if(-1 == nread) {
       int err = Curl_ourerrno();
-      conn->sockerror = err;
 #ifdef WIN32
       if(WSAEWOULDBLOCK == err)
 #else
@@ -425,8 +424,6 @@ int Curl_read(struct connectdata *conn, /* connection data */
 #endif
         return -1;
     }
-    else
-      conn->sockerror = 0; /* no error */
 
 #ifdef USE_SSLEAY
   }
diff --git a/lib/transfer.c b/lib/transfer.c
index cb24dd30f..2d0b4aa33 100644
--- a/lib/transfer.c
+++ b/lib/transfer.c
@@ -1946,15 +1946,14 @@ CURLcode Curl_perform(struct SessionHandle *data)
         res = Transfer(conn); /* now fetch that URL please */
         if(res == CURLE_OK) {
 
-          if((conn->keep.bytecount == 0) &&
-             (conn->sockerror == ECONNRESET) &&
+          if((conn->keep.bytecount+conn->headerbytecount == 0) &&
              conn->bits.reuse) {
-            /* We got no data, the connection was reset and we did attempt
-               to re-use a connection. This smells like we were too fast to
-               re-use a connection that was closed when we wanted to read
-               from it. Bad luck. Let's simulate a redirect to the same URL
-               to retry! */
-            infof(data, "Connection reset, retrying a fresh connect\n");
+            /* We got no data and we attempted to re-use a connection. This
+               might happen if the connection was left alive when we were done
+               using it before, but that was closed when we wanted to read
+               from it again. Bad luck. Retry the same request on a fresh
+               connect! */
+            infof(data, "Connection died, retrying a fresh connect\n");
             newurl = strdup(conn->data->change.url);
 
             conn->bits.close = TRUE; /* close this connection */
diff --git a/lib/urldata.h b/lib/urldata.h
index a4040d15e..55070ccbf 100644
--- a/lib/urldata.h
+++ b/lib/urldata.h
@@ -577,8 +577,6 @@ struct connectdata {
                                single requests! */
   struct ntlmdata proxyntlm; /* NTLM data for proxy */
 
-  int sockerror; /* errno stored by Curl_read() if the underlying layer returns
-                    error */
   char syserr_buf [256]; /* buffer for Curl_strerror() */
 
 #if defined(USE_ARES) || defined(USE_THREADING_GETHOSTBYNAME)