diff --git a/drivers/scsi/sd.c b/drivers/scsi/sd.c
index 8b827f37b03e..de6c60320f6f 100644
--- a/drivers/scsi/sd.c
+++ b/drivers/scsi/sd.c
@@ -1040,6 +1040,7 @@ static void sd_prepare_flush(struct request_queue *q, struct request *rq)
 {
 	rq->cmd_type = REQ_TYPE_BLOCK_PC;
 	rq->timeout = SD_TIMEOUT;
+	rq->retries = SD_MAX_RETRIES;
 	rq->cmd[0] = SYNCHRONIZE_CACHE;
 	rq->cmd_len = 10;
 }