diff --git a/.chloggen/hec-event-size-fix.yaml b/.chloggen/hec-event-size-fix.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..507ceecc6427
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.chloggen/hec-event-size-fix.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# Use this changelog template to create an entry for release notes.
+# If your change doesn't affect end users, such as a test fix or a tooling change,
+# you should instead start your pull request title with [chore] or use the "Skip Changelog" label.
+
+# One of 'breaking', 'deprecation', 'new_component', 'enhancement', 'bug_fix'
+change_type: bug_fix
+
+# The name of the component, or a single word describing the area of concern, (e.g. filelogreceiver)
+component: splunkhecexporter
+
+# A brief description of the change.  Surround your text with quotes ("") if it needs to start with a backtick (`).
+note: Fix the event size check associated with the `max_event_size` setting.
+
+# Mandatory: One or more tracking issues related to the change. You can use the PR number here if no issue exists.
+issues: [18066]
+
+# (Optional) One or more lines of additional information to render under the primary note.
+# These lines will be padded with 2 spaces and then inserted directly into the document.
+# Use pipe (|) for multiline entries.
+subtext:
diff --git a/exporter/splunkhecexporter/buffer.go b/exporter/splunkhecexporter/buffer.go
index 7a1c059f4db1..1744d9e87994 100644
--- a/exporter/splunkhecexporter/buffer.go
+++ b/exporter/splunkhecexporter/buffer.go
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ func (b *bufferState) Close() error {
 
 // accept returns true if data is accepted by the buffer
 func (b *bufferState) accept(data []byte) (bool, error) {
-	if len(data)+b.rawLength > int(b.maxEventLength) {
+	if len(data) > int(b.maxEventLength) {
 		return false, nil
 	}
 	_, err := b.writer.Write(data)
diff --git a/exporter/splunkhecexporter/client_test.go b/exporter/splunkhecexporter/client_test.go
index b538b58aaf46..38172901e540 100644
--- a/exporter/splunkhecexporter/client_test.go
+++ b/exporter/splunkhecexporter/client_test.go
@@ -728,17 +728,18 @@ func TestReceiveLogs(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 		{
-			name: "two events with 2000 bytes, one with 2000 bytes, then one with 20000 bytes",
+			name: "dropping one event longer than max event size",
 			logs: func() plog.Logs {
 				firstLog := createLogData(1, 1, 3)
-				firstLog.ResourceLogs().At(0).ScopeLogs().At(0).LogRecords().At(0).Body().SetStr(repeatableString(2000))
-				firstLog.ResourceLogs().At(0).ScopeLogs().At(0).LogRecords().At(1).Body().SetStr(repeatableString(2000))
-				firstLog.ResourceLogs().At(0).ScopeLogs().At(0).LogRecords().At(2).Body().SetStr(repeatableString(20000))
+				firstLog.ResourceLogs().At(0).ScopeLogs().At(0).LogRecords().At(0).Body().SetStr(repeatableString(100))
+				firstLog.ResourceLogs().At(0).ScopeLogs().At(0).LogRecords().At(1).Body().SetStr(repeatableString(100))
+				firstLog.ResourceLogs().At(0).ScopeLogs().At(0).LogRecords().At(2).Body().SetStr(repeatableString(500))
 				return firstLog
 			}(),
 			conf: func() *Config {
 				cfg := NewFactory().CreateDefaultConfig().(*Config)
-				cfg.MaxEventSize = 20000 // small so we can reproduce without allocating big logs.
+				cfg.MaxEventSize = 300
+				cfg.MaxContentLengthLogs = 50000
 				cfg.DisableCompression = true
 				return cfg
 			}(),
@@ -750,32 +751,6 @@ func TestReceiveLogs(t *testing.T) {
 				wantDrops:  1,
 			},
 		},
-		{
-			name: "two events with 2000 bytes, one with 1000 bytes, then one with 4200 bytes",
-			logs: func() plog.Logs {
-				firstLog := createLogData(1, 1, 5)
-				firstLog.ResourceLogs().At(0).ScopeLogs().At(0).LogRecords().At(0).Body().SetStr(repeatableString(2000))
-				firstLog.ResourceLogs().At(0).ScopeLogs().At(0).LogRecords().At(1).Body().SetStr(repeatableString(2000))
-				firstLog.ResourceLogs().At(0).ScopeLogs().At(0).LogRecords().At(2).Body().SetStr(repeatableString(1000))
-				firstLog.ResourceLogs().At(0).ScopeLogs().At(0).LogRecords().At(3).Body().SetStr(repeatableString(4200))
-				return firstLog
-			}(),
-			conf: func() *Config {
-				cfg := NewFactory().CreateDefaultConfig().(*Config)
-				cfg.MaxEventSize = 10000 // small so we can reproduce without allocating big logs.
-				cfg.MaxContentLengthLogs = 5000
-				cfg.DisableCompression = true
-				return cfg
-			}(),
-			want: wantType{
-				batches: [][]string{
-					{`"otel.log.name":"0_0_0"`, `"otel.log.name":"0_0_1"`},
-					{`"otel.log.name":"0_0_2"`},
-					{`"otel.log.name":"0_0_3"`, `"otel.log.name":"0_0_4"`},
-				},
-				numBatches: 3,
-			},
-		},
 		{
 			name: "10 resource logs, 1 scope logs, 10 log records, no compression",
 			logs: createLogData(10, 1, 10),