diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestDistributedGrouping.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestDistributedGrouping.java
index 043d88489041..7763658e1e50 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestDistributedGrouping.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestDistributedGrouping.java
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ public void test() throws Exception {
         oddField, "odd eggs"
     );
 
-    for (int i = 100; i < (TEST_NIGHTLY ? 150 : 25); i++) {
+    for (int i = 100; i < (TEST_NIGHTLY ? 150 : 5); i++) {
       indexr(id, i);
     }
 
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestDistributedSearch.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestDistributedSearch.java
index 5ce147adff3b..05bbebf8b45c 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestDistributedSearch.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestDistributedSearch.java
@@ -1183,7 +1183,7 @@ protected void queryPartialResults(final List<String> upShards,
     if (stress > 0) {
       log.info("starting stress...");
       Set<Future<Object>> pending = new HashSet<>();;
-      ExecutorCompletionService<Object> cs = new ExecutorCompletionService<>(executor);
+      ExecutorCompletionService<Object> cs = new ExecutorCompletionService<>(testExecutor);
       Callable[] threads = new Callable[nThreads];
       for (int i = 0; i < threads.length; i++) {
         threads[i] = new Callable() {
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/search/TestRandomCollapseQParserPlugin.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/search/TestRandomCollapseQParserPlugin.java
index 37939a62e8d7..1d5d09fb0eb9 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/search/TestRandomCollapseQParserPlugin.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/search/TestRandomCollapseQParserPlugin.java
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ public void testEveryIsolatedSortFieldOnSingleGroup() throws Exception {
   
   public void testRandomCollpaseWithSort() throws Exception {
     
-    final int numMainQueriesPerCollapseField = atLeast(TEST_NIGHTLY ? 5 : 3);
+    final int numMainQueriesPerCollapseField = atLeast(TEST_NIGHTLY ? 5 : 2);
     
     for (String collapseField : ALL_COLLAPSE_FIELD_NAMES) {
       for (int i = 0; i < numMainQueriesPerCollapseField; i++) {
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ public void testRandomCollpaseWithSort() throws Exception {
         final SolrParams mainP = params("q", q, "fl", "id,"+collapseField);
 
         final String csize = random().nextBoolean() ?
-          "" : " size=" + TestUtil.nextInt(random(),1,TEST_NIGHTLY ? 10000 : 1000);
+          "" : " size=" + TestUtil.nextInt(random(),1,TEST_NIGHTLY ? 10000 : 10);
 
         final String nullPolicy = randomNullPolicy();
         final String nullPs = NULL_IGNORE.equals(nullPolicy)
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/search/facet/DistributedFacetSimpleRefinementLongTailTest.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/search/facet/DistributedFacetSimpleRefinementLongTailTest.java
index a24da43066c8..744693a5f8f7 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/search/facet/DistributedFacetSimpleRefinementLongTailTest.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/search/facet/DistributedFacetSimpleRefinementLongTailTest.java
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ public static void buildIndexes(final List<SolrClient> clients, final String sta
     }
 
     // really long tail uncommon foo_s terms on shard2
-    for (int i = 0; i < 30; i++) {
+    for (int i = 0; i < (TEST_NIGHTLY ? 30 : 10); i++) {
       // NOTE: using "Z" here so these sort before bbb0 when they tie for '1' instance each on shard2
       shard2.add(sdoc("id", docNum.incrementAndGet(), "foo_s", "ZZZ"+i));
     }
diff --git a/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/BaseDistributedSearchTestCase.java b/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/BaseDistributedSearchTestCase.java
index 1f7e32c252ad..0975bda4fb6a 100644
--- a/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/BaseDistributedSearchTestCase.java
+++ b/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/BaseDistributedSearchTestCase.java
@@ -98,15 +98,6 @@
  */
 public abstract class BaseDistributedSearchTestCase extends SolrTestCaseJ4 {
   
-  protected ExecutorService executor = new ExecutorUtil.MDCAwareThreadPoolExecutor(
-      4,
-      Integer.MAX_VALUE,
-      15, TimeUnit.SECONDS, // terminate idle threads after 15 sec
-      new SynchronousQueue<>(),  // directly hand off tasks
-      new SolrNamedThreadFactory("BaseDistributedSearchTestCase"),
-      false
-  );
-  
   // TODO: this shouldn't be static. get the random when you need it to avoid sharing.
   public static Random r;
   
@@ -337,7 +328,6 @@ public void distribSetUp() throws Exception {
 
   private volatile boolean distribTearDownCalled = false;
   public void distribTearDown() throws Exception {
-    ExecutorUtil.shutdownAndAwaitTermination(executor);
     distribTearDownCalled = true;
   }
 
@@ -417,10 +407,7 @@ protected void destroyServers() throws Exception {
 //    if (destroyServersCalled) throw new RuntimeException("destroyServers already called");
 //    destroyServersCalled = true;
     try (ParWork closer = new ParWork(this, true)) {
-
-      closer.add("clients", controlClient, clients);
-
-      closer.add("jetties", jettys, controlJetty);
+      closer.add("jetties&clients", controlClient, clients, jettys, controlJetty);
     }
     
     clients.clear();
diff --git a/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/SolrTestCaseJ4.java b/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/SolrTestCaseJ4.java
index 90e7111c6d06..e9d40e00d70e 100644
--- a/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/SolrTestCaseJ4.java
+++ b/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/SolrTestCaseJ4.java
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ public static void setupTestCases() {
     resetExceptionIgnores();
     
     testExecutor = new ExecutorUtil.MDCAwareThreadPoolExecutor(0, Integer.MAX_VALUE,
-        15L, TimeUnit.SECONDS,
+        5L, TimeUnit.SECONDS,
         new SynchronousQueue<>(),
         new SolrNamedThreadFactory("testExecutor"),
         true);