diff --git a/src/api-service/__app__/onefuzzlib/workers/nodes.py b/src/api-service/__app__/onefuzzlib/workers/nodes.py
index 172d2bcc5..24fdcd4a5 100644
--- a/src/api-service/__app__/onefuzzlib/workers/nodes.py
+++ b/src/api-service/__app__/onefuzzlib/workers/nodes.py
@@ -287,8 +287,8 @@ class Node(BASE_NODE, ORMMixin):
             return False
 
         if self.could_shrink_scaleset():
-            self.set_halt()
             logging.info("node scheduled to shrink.  machine_id:%s", self.machine_id)
+            self.set_halt()
             return False
 
         if self.scaleset_id:
@@ -384,8 +384,9 @@ class Node(BASE_NODE, ORMMixin):
 
     def set_halt(self) -> None:
         """Tell the node to stop everything."""
-        self.set_shutdown()
-        self.stop()
+        logging.info("setting halt: %s", self.machine_id)
+        self.delete_requested = True
+        self.stop(done=True)
         self.set_state(NodeState.halt)
 
     @classmethod
diff --git a/src/api-service/__app__/onefuzzlib/workers/scalesets.py b/src/api-service/__app__/onefuzzlib/workers/scalesets.py
index df7d4c908..d42e385ee 100644
--- a/src/api-service/__app__/onefuzzlib/workers/scalesets.py
+++ b/src/api-service/__app__/onefuzzlib/workers/scalesets.py
@@ -374,9 +374,17 @@ class Scaleset(BASE_SCALESET, ORMMixin):
                     to_reimage.append(node)
 
         dead_nodes = Node.get_dead_nodes(self.scaleset_id, NODE_EXPIRATION_TIME)
-        for node in dead_nodes:
-            node.set_halt()
-            to_reimage.append(node)
+        if dead_nodes:
+            logging.info(
+                SCALESET_LOG_PREFIX
+                + "reimaging nodes with expired heartbeats. "
+                + "scaleset_id:%s nodes:%s",
+                self.scaleset_id,
+                ",".join(str(x.machine_id) for x in dead_nodes),
+            )
+            for node in dead_nodes:
+                if node not in to_reimage:
+                    to_reimage.append(node)
 
         # Perform operations until they fail due to scaleset getting locked
         try: