diff --git a/core/services/relay/evm/mercury/wsrpc/cache/cache_set.go b/core/services/relay/evm/mercury/wsrpc/cache/cache_set.go
index 98388442d9a..01d47743950 100644
--- a/core/services/relay/evm/mercury/wsrpc/cache/cache_set.go
+++ b/core/services/relay/evm/mercury/wsrpc/cache/cache_set.go
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ func newCacheSet(lggr logger.Logger, cfg Config) *cacheSet {
 
 func (cs *cacheSet) Start(context.Context) error {
 	return cs.StartOnce("CacheSet", func() error {
-		cs.lggr.Debugw("CacheSet starting", "config", cs.cfg)
+		cs.lggr.Debugw("CacheSet starting", "config", cs.cfg, "cachingEnabled", cs.cfg.LatestReportTTL > 0)
 		return nil
 	})
 }
@@ -65,6 +65,10 @@ func (cs *cacheSet) Close() error {
 }
 
 func (cs *cacheSet) Get(ctx context.Context, client Client) (f Fetcher, err error) {
+	if cs.cfg.LatestReportTTL == 0 {
+		// caching disabled
+		return client, nil
+	}
 	ok := cs.IfStarted(func() {
 		f, err = cs.get(ctx, client)
 	})
diff --git a/core/services/relay/evm/mercury/wsrpc/cache/cache_set_test.go b/core/services/relay/evm/mercury/wsrpc/cache/cache_set_test.go
index 7d754b8326e..59be76ed265 100644
--- a/core/services/relay/evm/mercury/wsrpc/cache/cache_set_test.go
+++ b/core/services/relay/evm/mercury/wsrpc/cache/cache_set_test.go
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ import (
 
 func Test_CacheSet(t *testing.T) {
 	lggr := logger.TestLogger(t)
-	cs := newCacheSet(lggr, Config{})
+	cs := newCacheSet(lggr, Config{LatestReportTTL: 1})
+	disabledCs := newCacheSet(lggr, Config{LatestReportTTL: 0})
 	ctx := testutils.Context(t)
 	servicetest.Run(t, cs)
 
@@ -22,6 +23,16 @@ func Test_CacheSet(t *testing.T) {
 
 		var err error
 		var f Fetcher
+		t.Run("with caching disabled, returns the passed client", func(t *testing.T) {
+			assert.Len(t, disabledCs.caches, 0)
+
+			f, err = disabledCs.Get(ctx, c)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+
+			assert.Same(t, c, f)
+			assert.Len(t, disabledCs.caches, 0)
+		})
+
 		t.Run("with virgin cacheset, makes new entry and returns it", func(t *testing.T) {
 			assert.Len(t, cs.caches, 0)
 
diff --git a/core/services/relay/evm/mercury/wsrpc/client.go b/core/services/relay/evm/mercury/wsrpc/client.go
index 5b6bfa1a9b0..c9533717757 100644
--- a/core/services/relay/evm/mercury/wsrpc/client.go
+++ b/core/services/relay/evm/mercury/wsrpc/client.go
@@ -24,9 +24,9 @@ import (
 	"github.com/smartcontractkit/chainlink/v2/core/utils"
 )
 
-// MaxConsecutiveTransmitFailures controls how many consecutive requests are
+// MaxConsecutiveRequestFailures controls how many consecutive requests are
 // allowed to time out before we reset the connection
-const MaxConsecutiveTransmitFailures = 5
+const MaxConsecutiveRequestFailures = 10
 
 var (
 	timeoutCount = promauto.NewCounterVec(prometheus.CounterOpts{
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ var (
 	)
 	connectionResetCount = promauto.NewCounterVec(prometheus.CounterOpts{
 		Name: "mercury_connection_reset_count",
-		Help: fmt.Sprintf("Running count of times connection to mercury server has been reset (connection reset happens automatically after %d consecutive transmit failures)", MaxConsecutiveTransmitFailures),
+		Help: fmt.Sprintf("Running count of times connection to mercury server has been reset (connection reset happens automatically after %d consecutive request failures)", MaxConsecutiveRequestFailures),
 	},
 		[]string{"serverURL"},
 	)
@@ -256,13 +256,26 @@ func (w *client) Transmit(ctx context.Context, req *pb.TransmitRequest) (resp *p
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "Transmit call failed")
 	}
 	resp, err = w.rawClient.Transmit(ctx, req)
+	w.handleTimeout(err)
+	if err != nil {
+		w.logger.Warnw("Transmit call failed due to networking error", "err", err, "resp", resp)
+		incRequestStatusMetric(statusFailed)
+	} else {
+		w.logger.Tracew("Transmit call succeeded", "resp", resp)
+		incRequestStatusMetric(statusSuccess)
+		setRequestLatencyMetric(float64(time.Since(start).Milliseconds()))
+	}
+	return
+}
+
+func (w *client) handleTimeout(err error) {
 	if errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) {
 		w.timeoutCountMetric.Inc()
 		cnt := w.consecutiveTimeoutCnt.Add(1)
-		if cnt == MaxConsecutiveTransmitFailures {
+		if cnt == MaxConsecutiveRequestFailures {
 			w.logger.Errorf("Timed out on %d consecutive transmits, resetting transport", cnt)
-			// NOTE: If we get 5+ request timeouts in a row, close and re-open
-			// the websocket connection.
+			// NOTE: If we get at least MaxConsecutiveRequestFailures request
+			// timeouts in a row, close and re-open the websocket connection.
 			//
 			// This *shouldn't* be necessary in theory (ideally, wsrpc would
 			// handle it for us) but it acts as a "belts and braces" approach
@@ -271,11 +284,11 @@ func (w *client) Transmit(ctx context.Context, req *pb.TransmitRequest) (resp *p
 			select {
 			case w.chResetTransport <- struct{}{}:
 			default:
-				// This can happen if we had 5 consecutive timeouts, already
-				// sent a reset signal, then the connection started working
-				// again (resetting the count) then we got 5 additional
-				// failures before the runloop was able to close the bad
-				// connection.
+				// This can happen if we had MaxConsecutiveRequestFailures
+				// consecutive timeouts, already sent a reset signal, then the
+				// connection started working again (resetting the count) then
+				// we got MaxConsecutiveRequestFailures additional failures
+				// before the runloop was able to close the bad connection.
 				//
 				// It should be safe to just ignore in this case.
 				//
@@ -286,15 +299,6 @@ func (w *client) Transmit(ctx context.Context, req *pb.TransmitRequest) (resp *p
 	} else {
 		w.consecutiveTimeoutCnt.Store(0)
 	}
-	if err != nil {
-		w.logger.Warnw("Transmit call failed due to networking error", "err", err, "resp", resp)
-		incRequestStatusMetric(statusFailed)
-	} else {
-		w.logger.Tracew("Transmit call succeeded", "resp", resp)
-		incRequestStatusMetric(statusSuccess)
-		setRequestLatencyMetric(float64(time.Since(start).Milliseconds()))
-	}
-	return
 }
 
 func (w *client) LatestReport(ctx context.Context, req *pb.LatestReportRequest) (resp *pb.LatestReportResponse, err error) {
@@ -306,6 +310,7 @@ func (w *client) LatestReport(ctx context.Context, req *pb.LatestReportRequest)
 	var cached bool
 	if w.cache == nil {
 		resp, err = w.rawClient.LatestReport(ctx, req)
+		w.handleTimeout(err)
 	} else {
 		cached = true
 		resp, err = w.cache.LatestReport(ctx, req)
diff --git a/core/services/relay/evm/mercury/wsrpc/client_test.go b/core/services/relay/evm/mercury/wsrpc/client_test.go
index f265d54879c..10712461ae1 100644
--- a/core/services/relay/evm/mercury/wsrpc/client_test.go
+++ b/core/services/relay/evm/mercury/wsrpc/client_test.go
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ func Test_Client_Transmit(t *testing.T) {
 
 	noopCacheSet := newNoopCacheSet()
 
-	t.Run("sends on reset channel after MaxConsecutiveTransmitFailures timed out transmits", func(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("sends on reset channel after MaxConsecutiveRequestFailures timed out transmits", func(t *testing.T) {
 		calls := 0
 		transmitErr := context.DeadlineExceeded
 		wsrpcClient := &mocks.MockWSRPCClient{
@@ -70,11 +70,11 @@ func Test_Client_Transmit(t *testing.T) {
 		c.conn = conn
 		c.rawClient = wsrpcClient
 		require.NoError(t, c.StartOnce("Mock WSRPC Client", func() error { return nil }))
-		for i := 1; i < MaxConsecutiveTransmitFailures; i++ {
+		for i := 1; i < MaxConsecutiveRequestFailures; i++ {
 			_, err := c.Transmit(ctx, req)
 			require.EqualError(t, err, "context deadline exceeded")
 		}
-		assert.Equal(t, 4, calls)
+		assert.Equal(t, MaxConsecutiveRequestFailures-1, calls)
 		select {
 		case <-c.chResetTransport:
 			t.Fatal("unexpected send on chResetTransport")
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ func Test_Client_Transmit(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 		_, err := c.Transmit(ctx, req)
 		require.EqualError(t, err, "context deadline exceeded")
-		assert.Equal(t, 5, calls)
+		assert.Equal(t, MaxConsecutiveRequestFailures, calls)
 		select {
 		case <-c.chResetTransport:
 		default:
@@ -94,14 +94,14 @@ func Test_Client_Transmit(t *testing.T) {
 			// working transmit to reset counter
 			_, err = c.Transmit(ctx, req)
 			require.NoError(t, err)
-			assert.Equal(t, 6, calls)
+			assert.Equal(t, MaxConsecutiveRequestFailures+1, calls)
 			assert.Equal(t, 0, int(c.consecutiveTimeoutCnt.Load()))
 		})
 
 		t.Run("doesn't block in case channel is full", func(t *testing.T) {
 			transmitErr = context.DeadlineExceeded
 			c.chResetTransport = nil // simulate full channel
-			for i := 0; i < MaxConsecutiveTransmitFailures; i++ {
+			for i := 0; i < MaxConsecutiveRequestFailures; i++ {
 				_, err := c.Transmit(ctx, req)
 				require.EqualError(t, err, "context deadline exceeded")
 			}
@@ -162,10 +162,7 @@ func Test_Client_LatestReport(t *testing.T) {
 
 		// simulate start without dialling
 		require.NoError(t, c.StartOnce("Mock WSRPC Client", func() error { return nil }))
-		var err error
 		servicetest.Run(t, cacheSet)
-		c.cache, err = cacheSet.Get(ctx, c)
-		require.NoError(t, err)
 
 		for i := 0; i < 5; i++ {
 			r, err := c.LatestReport(ctx, req)