diff --git a/googleapiclient/http.py b/googleapiclient/http.py
index f9d6a557e4c..5181badbeba 100644
--- a/googleapiclient/http.py
+++ b/googleapiclient/http.py
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ def _retry_request(http, num_retries, req_type, sleep, rand, uri, method, *args,
     except socket.error as socket_error:
       # errno's contents differ by platform, so we have to match by name.
       if socket.errno.errorcode.get(socket_error.errno) not in (
-          'WSAETIMEDOUT', 'ETIMEDOUT', ):
+          'WSAETIMEDOUT', 'ETIMEDOUT', 'EPIPE', 'ECONNABORTED', ):
         raise
       exception = socket_error
 
diff --git a/tests/test_http.py b/tests/test_http.py
index b74e2cbf113..08450473a69 100644
--- a/tests/test_http.py
+++ b/tests/test_http.py
@@ -122,14 +122,19 @@ def request(self, *args, **kwargs):
           ex = TimeoutError()
         else:
           ex = socket.error()
-        # Initialize the timeout error code to the platform's error code.
-        try:
-          # For Windows:
-          ex.errno = socket.errno.WSAETIMEDOUT
-        except AttributeError:
-          # For Linux/Mac:
-          ex.errno = socket.errno.ETIMEDOUT
-        # Now raise the correct timeout error.
+        
+        if self.num_errors == 2:
+          #first try a broken pipe error (#218)
+          ex.errno = socket.errno.EPIPE
+        else:
+          # Initialize the timeout error code to the platform's error code.
+          try:
+            # For Windows:
+            ex.errno = socket.errno.WSAETIMEDOUT
+          except AttributeError:
+            # For Linux/Mac:
+            ex.errno = socket.errno.ETIMEDOUT
+        # Now raise the correct error.
         raise ex
 
 
@@ -145,7 +150,7 @@ def request(self, *args, **kwargs):
     else:
       self.num_errors -= 1
       ex = socket.error()
-      # Initialize the timeout error code to the platform's error code.
+      # set errno to a non-retriable value
       try:
         # For Windows:
         ex.errno = socket.errno.WSAECONNREFUSED