diff --git a/synapse/federation/federation_base.py b/synapse/federation/federation_base.py
index 5217d91aab..f0430b2cb1 100644
--- a/synapse/federation/federation_base.py
+++ b/synapse/federation/federation_base.py
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ class FederationBase(object):
                             destinations=[pdu.origin],
                             event_id=pdu.event_id,
                             outlier=outlier,
+                            timeout=10000,
                         )
 
                         if new_pdu:
diff --git a/synapse/federation/federation_client.py b/synapse/federation/federation_client.py
index 904c7c0945..a163b2674d 100644
--- a/synapse/federation/federation_client.py
+++ b/synapse/federation/federation_client.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ from .units import Edu
 from synapse.api.errors import (
     CodeMessageException, HttpResponseException, SynapseError,
 )
+from synapse.util import unwrapFirstError
 from synapse.util.expiringcache import ExpiringCache
 from synapse.util.logutils import log_function
 from synapse.events import FrozenEvent
@@ -173,7 +174,7 @@ class FederationClient(FederationBase):
 
     @defer.inlineCallbacks
     @log_function
-    def get_pdu(self, destinations, event_id, outlier=False):
+    def get_pdu(self, destinations, event_id, outlier=False, timeout=None):
         """Requests the PDU with given origin and ID from the remote home
         servers.
 
@@ -212,7 +213,7 @@ class FederationClient(FederationBase):
 
                 with limiter:
                     transaction_data = yield self.transport_layer.get_event(
-                        destination, event_id
+                        destination, event_id, timeout=timeout,
                     )
 
                     logger.debug("transaction_data %r", transaction_data)
@@ -370,13 +371,17 @@ class FederationClient(FederationBase):
                     for p in content.get("auth_chain", [])
                 ]
 
-                signed_state = yield self._check_sigs_and_hash_and_fetch(
-                    destination, state, outlier=True
-                )
-
-                signed_auth = yield self._check_sigs_and_hash_and_fetch(
-                    destination, auth_chain, outlier=True
-                )
+                signed_state, signed_auth = yield defer.gatherResults(
+                    [
+                        self._check_sigs_and_hash_and_fetch(
+                            destination, state, outlier=True
+                        ),
+                        self._check_sigs_and_hash_and_fetch(
+                            destination, auth_chain, outlier=True
+                        )
+                    ],
+                    consumeErrors=True
+                ).addErrback(unwrapFirstError)
 
                 auth_chain.sort(key=lambda e: e.depth)
 
diff --git a/synapse/federation/transport/client.py b/synapse/federation/transport/client.py
index 80d03012b7..c2b53b78b2 100644
--- a/synapse/federation/transport/client.py
+++ b/synapse/federation/transport/client.py
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ class TransportLayerClient(object):
         )
 
     @log_function
-    def get_event(self, destination, event_id):
+    def get_event(self, destination, event_id, timeout=None):
         """ Requests the pdu with give id and origin from the given server.
 
         Args:
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ class TransportLayerClient(object):
                      destination, event_id)
 
         path = PREFIX + "/event/%s/" % (event_id, )
-        return self.client.get_json(destination, path=path)
+        return self.client.get_json(destination, path=path, timeout=timeout)
 
     @log_function
     def backfill(self, destination, room_id, event_tuples, limit):
diff --git a/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py b/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
index c99d237c73..312bbcc6b8 100644
--- a/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
+++ b/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
@@ -110,7 +110,8 @@ class MatrixFederationHttpClient(object):
     @defer.inlineCallbacks
     def _create_request(self, destination, method, path_bytes,
                         body_callback, headers_dict={}, param_bytes=b"",
-                        query_bytes=b"", retry_on_dns_fail=True):
+                        query_bytes=b"", retry_on_dns_fail=True,
+                        timeout=None):
         """ Creates and sends a request to the given url
         """
         headers_dict[b"User-Agent"] = [self.version_string]
@@ -158,7 +159,7 @@ class MatrixFederationHttpClient(object):
 
                 response = yield self.clock.time_bound_deferred(
                     request_deferred,
-                    time_out=60,
+                    time_out=timeout/1000. if timeout else 60,
                 )
 
                 logger.debug("Got response to %s", method)
@@ -181,7 +182,7 @@ class MatrixFederationHttpClient(object):
                     _flatten_response_never_received(e),
                 )
 
-                if retries_left:
+                if retries_left and not timeout:
                     yield sleep(2 ** (5 - retries_left))
                     retries_left -= 1
                 else:
@@ -334,7 +335,8 @@ class MatrixFederationHttpClient(object):
         defer.returnValue(json.loads(body))
 
     @defer.inlineCallbacks
-    def get_json(self, destination, path, args={}, retry_on_dns_fail=True):
+    def get_json(self, destination, path, args={}, retry_on_dns_fail=True,
+                 timeout=None):
         """ GETs some json from the given host homeserver and path
 
         Args:
@@ -370,7 +372,8 @@ class MatrixFederationHttpClient(object):
             path.encode("ascii"),
             query_bytes=query_bytes,
             body_callback=body_callback,
-            retry_on_dns_fail=retry_on_dns_fail
+            retry_on_dns_fail=retry_on_dns_fail,
+            timeout=timeout,
         )
 
         if 200 <= response.code < 300: