diff --git a/.ci/pipelines/jobs/ocp-nightly.sh b/.ci/pipelines/jobs/ocp-nightly.sh
index bb3acccedd..d451118ace 100644
--- a/.ci/pipelines/jobs/ocp-nightly.sh
+++ b/.ci/pipelines/jobs/ocp-nightly.sh
@@ -75,8 +75,9 @@ run_runtime_config_change_tests() {
   fi
 
   local runtime_url="https://${RELEASE_NAME}-developer-hub-${NAME_SPACE_RUNTIME}.${K8S_CLUSTER_ROUTER_BASE}"
-  # Run tests - allow failures since schema-mode tests are opt-in
-  testing::run_tests "${RELEASE_NAME}" "${NAME_SPACE_RUNTIME}" "${PW_PROJECT_SHOWCASE_RUNTIME}" "${runtime_url}" || true
+  # Gate on /healthcheck: a test that scales the deployment to 0 mid-rollout
+  # kills install-dynamic-plugins and orphans its lock on the PVC.
+  testing::check_and_test "${RELEASE_NAME}" "${NAME_SPACE_RUNTIME}" "${PW_PROJECT_SHOWCASE_RUNTIME}" "${runtime_url}"
 }
 
 run_sanity_plugins_check() {
diff --git a/.ci/pipelines/jobs/ocp-operator.sh b/.ci/pipelines/jobs/ocp-operator.sh
index cc8d1b24f6..1187d73914 100644
--- a/.ci/pipelines/jobs/ocp-operator.sh
+++ b/.ci/pipelines/jobs/ocp-operator.sh
@@ -110,7 +110,9 @@ run_operator_runtime_config_change_tests() {
     fi
   fi
 
-  testing::run_tests "${RELEASE_NAME}" "${NAME_SPACE_RUNTIME}" "${PW_PROJECT_SHOWCASE_RUNTIME}" "${runtime_url}" || true
+  # Gate on /healthcheck: a test that scales the deployment to 0 mid-rollout
+  # kills install-dynamic-plugins and orphans its lock on the PVC.
+  testing::check_and_test "${RELEASE_NAME}" "${NAME_SPACE_RUNTIME}" "${PW_PROJECT_SHOWCASE_RUNTIME}" "${runtime_url}"
 }
 
 handle_ocp_operator() {
diff --git a/e2e-tests/playwright/utils/kube-client.ts b/e2e-tests/playwright/utils/kube-client.ts
index e1d145789b..700c8867b8 100644
--- a/e2e-tests/playwright/utils/kube-client.ts
+++ b/e2e-tests/playwright/utils/kube-client.ts
@@ -830,7 +830,7 @@ export class KubeClient {
       console.log(`Deployment: ${deploymentName}, Namespace: ${namespace}`);
       await this.logPodConditionsForDeployment(deploymentName, namespace);
       await this.scaleDeployment(deploymentName, namespace, 0);
-      await this.waitForDeploymentReady(deploymentName, namespace, 0, 300000); // 5 minutes for scale down
+      await this.waitForDeploymentReady(deploymentName, namespace, 0, 120000); // 2 minutes for scale down
 
       // Wait a bit for pods to be fully terminated
       console.log("Waiting for pods to be fully terminated...");
@@ -840,7 +840,9 @@ export class KubeClient {
       console.log(`Scaling up deployment ${deploymentName} to 1 replica.`);
       await this.scaleDeployment(deploymentName, namespace, 1);
 
-      await this.waitForDeploymentReady(deploymentName, namespace, 1, 600000); // 10 minutes for scale up
+      // 2m + 10s + 7m fits the 10 minute test timeout, so a slow rollout fails
+      // through the catch below instead of the worker being killed mid-restart.
+      await this.waitForDeploymentReady(deploymentName, namespace, 1, 420000); // 7 minutes for scale up
 
       console.log(
         `Restart of deployment ${deploymentName} completed successfully.`,