diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/async-search/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/search/AsyncSearchIntegTestCase.java b/x-pack/plugin/async-search/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/search/AsyncSearchIntegTestCase.java
index f579b834b723e..1b215068faa09 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/async-search/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/search/AsyncSearchIntegTestCase.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/async-search/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/search/AsyncSearchIntegTestCase.java
@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.state.ClusterStateResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.get.GetResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.support.master.AcknowledgedResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterChangedEvent;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterState;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNode;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.component.Lifecycle;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ContextParser;
@@ -34,6 +37,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.search.action.SubmitAsyncSearchRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ilm.IndexLifecycle;
 import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
 
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.util.Arrays;
@@ -71,6 +75,25 @@ public List<AggregationSpec> getAggregations() {
         }
     }
 
+    @Before
+    public void startMaintenanceService() {
+        for (AsyncSearchMaintenanceService service : internalCluster().getDataNodeInstances(AsyncSearchMaintenanceService.class)) {
+            if (service.lifecycleState() == Lifecycle.State.STOPPED) {
+                // force the service to start again
+                service.start();
+                ClusterState state = internalCluster().clusterService().state();
+                service.clusterChanged(new ClusterChangedEvent("noop", state, state));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void stopMaintenanceService() {
+        for (AsyncSearchMaintenanceService service : internalCluster().getDataNodeInstances(AsyncSearchMaintenanceService.class)) {
+            service.stop();
+        }
+    }
+
     @After
     public void releaseQueryLatch() {
         BlockingQueryBuilder.releaseQueryLatch();