diff --git a/controllers/client/openstackclient_controller.go b/controllers/client/openstackclient_controller.go
index d8d2eafc1..5a009cef2 100644
--- a/controllers/client/openstackclient_controller.go
+++ b/controllers/client/openstackclient_controller.go
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/openstack-k8s-operators/lib-common/modules/common/configmap"
 	"github.com/openstack-k8s-operators/lib-common/modules/common/env"
 	helper "github.com/openstack-k8s-operators/lib-common/modules/common/helper"
+	"github.com/openstack-k8s-operators/lib-common/modules/common/labels"
 	common_rbac "github.com/openstack-k8s-operators/lib-common/modules/common/rbac"
 	"github.com/openstack-k8s-operators/lib-common/modules/common/tls"
 	telemetryv1 "github.com/openstack-k8s-operators/telemetry-operator/api/v1beta1"
@@ -307,17 +308,23 @@ func (r *OpenStackClientReconciler) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req ctrl.Requ
 
 	spec := openstackclient.ClientPodSpec(ctx, instance, helper, configVarsHash)
 
+	podSpecHash, err := util.ObjectHash(spec)
+	if err != nil {
+		return ctrl.Result{}, err
+	}
+
+	podSpecAnnotation := labels.GetGroupLabel("openstackclient") + "/pod-spec-hash"
+
 	op, err := controllerutil.CreateOrPatch(ctx, r.Client, osclient, func() error {
 		isPodUpdate := !osclient.ObjectMeta.CreationTimestamp.IsZero()
-		if !isPodUpdate {
+		currentPodSpecHash, hasPodSpecHash := osclient.Annotations[podSpecAnnotation]
+		if !isPodUpdate || (hasPodSpecHash && currentPodSpecHash != podSpecHash) {
 			osclient.Spec = spec
-		} else {
-			osclient.Spec.Containers[0].Env = spec.Containers[0].Env
-			osclient.Spec.NodeSelector = spec.NodeSelector
-			osclient.Spec.Containers[0].Image = instance.Spec.ContainerImage
 		}
-
 		osclient.Labels = util.MergeStringMaps(osclient.Labels, clientLabels)
+		osclient.Annotations = util.MergeStringMaps(map[string]string{
+			podSpecAnnotation: podSpecHash,
+		}, osclient.Annotations)
 
 		err = controllerutil.SetControllerReference(instance, osclient, r.Scheme)
 		if err != nil {