diff --git a/core/iwasm/aot/aot_runtime.c b/core/iwasm/aot/aot_runtime.c
index bfe691ea28..7e8799e05f 100644
--- a/core/iwasm/aot/aot_runtime.c
+++ b/core/iwasm/aot/aot_runtime.c
@@ -1748,16 +1748,7 @@ aot_instantiate(AOTModule *module, AOTModuleInstance *parent,
     /* Initialize the thread related data */
     if (stack_size == 0)
         stack_size = DEFAULT_WASM_STACK_SIZE;
-#if WASM_ENABLE_SPEC_TEST != 0
-#if WASM_ENABLE_TAIL_CALL == 0
-    if (stack_size < 128 * 1024)
-        stack_size = 128 * 1024;
-#else
-    /* Some tail-call cases require large operand stack */
-    if (stack_size < 10 * 1024 * 1024)
-        stack_size = 10 * 1024 * 1024;
-#endif
-#endif
+
     module_inst->default_wasm_stack_size = stack_size;
 
     extra->stack_sizes =
diff --git a/core/iwasm/interpreter/wasm_runtime.c b/core/iwasm/interpreter/wasm_runtime.c
index 0d4d0b37d4..f3b9b2e822 100644
--- a/core/iwasm/interpreter/wasm_runtime.c
+++ b/core/iwasm/interpreter/wasm_runtime.c
@@ -2990,16 +2990,7 @@ wasm_instantiate(WASMModule *module, WASMModuleInstance *parent,
     /* Initialize the thread related data */
     if (stack_size == 0)
         stack_size = DEFAULT_WASM_STACK_SIZE;
-#if WASM_ENABLE_SPEC_TEST != 0
-#if WASM_ENABLE_TAIL_CALL == 0
-    if (stack_size < 128 * 1024)
-        stack_size = 128 * 1024;
-#else
-    /* Some tail-call cases require large operand stack */
-    if (stack_size < 10 * 1024 * 1024)
-        stack_size = 10 * 1024 * 1024;
-#endif
-#endif
+
     module_inst->default_wasm_stack_size = stack_size;
 
     if (module->malloc_function != (uint32)-1) {
diff --git a/tests/wamr-test-suites/spec-test-script/runtest.py b/tests/wamr-test-suites/spec-test-script/runtest.py
index 2713c49405..c5d763ef59 100755
--- a/tests/wamr-test-suites/spec-test-script/runtest.py
+++ b/tests/wamr-test-suites/spec-test-script/runtest.py
@@ -1159,13 +1159,19 @@ def run_wasm_with_repl(wasm_tempfile, aot_tempfile, opts, r):
     if opts.qemu:
         tmpfile = f"/tmp/{os.path.basename(tmpfile)}"
 
-    if opts.verbose:
-        cmd_iwasm = [opts.interpreter, "--heap-size=0", "-v=5", "--repl", tmpfile]
-    else:
-        cmd_iwasm = [opts.interpreter, "--heap-size=0", "--repl", tmpfile]
-
+    cmd_iwasm = [opts.interpreter, "--heap-size=0", "--repl"]
     if opts.multi_module:
-        cmd_iwasm.insert(1, "--module-path=" + (tempfile.gettempdir() if not opts.qemu else "/tmp" ))
+        cmd_iwasm.append("--module-path=" + (tempfile.gettempdir() if not opts.qemu else "/tmp" ))
+    if opts.gc:
+        # our tail-call implementation is known broken.
+        # work it around by using a huge stack.
+        # cf. https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasm-micro-runtime/issues/2231
+        cmd_iwasm.append("--stack-size=10485760")  # 10MB (!)
+    else:
+        cmd_iwasm.append("--stack-size=131072")  # 128KB
+    if opts.verbose:
+        cmd_iwasm.append("-v=5")
+    cmd_iwasm.append(tmpfile)
 
     if opts.qemu:
         if opts.qemu_firmware == '':