diff --git a/akka-projection-grpc/src/main/scala/akka/projection/grpc/consumer/scaladsl/GrpcReadJournal.scala b/akka-projection-grpc/src/main/scala/akka/projection/grpc/consumer/scaladsl/GrpcReadJournal.scala
index f222a1773..ca9920fd0 100644
--- a/akka-projection-grpc/src/main/scala/akka/projection/grpc/consumer/scaladsl/GrpcReadJournal.scala
+++ b/akka-projection-grpc/src/main/scala/akka/projection/grpc/consumer/scaladsl/GrpcReadJournal.scala
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import akka.projection.grpc.consumer.scaladsl
 import akka.projection.grpc.consumer.scaladsl.GrpcReadJournal.withChannelBuilderOverrides
 import akka.projection.grpc.internal.ProjectionGrpcSerialization
 import akka.projection.grpc.internal.ConnectionException
+import akka.projection.grpc.internal.DetailedConnectionException
 import akka.projection.grpc.internal.ProtoAnySerialization
 import akka.projection.grpc.internal.ProtobufProtocolConversions
 import akka.projection.grpc.internal.proto.Event
@@ -64,6 +65,8 @@ import akka.projection.grpc.internal.proto.ReplayPersistenceId
 import akka.projection.grpc.internal.proto.ReplicaInfo
 import akka.projection.grpc.replication.scaladsl.ReplicationSettings
 
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger
+
 object GrpcReadJournal {
   val Identifier = "akka.projection.grpc.consumer"
 
@@ -291,6 +294,7 @@ final class GrpcReadJournal private (
         case _                  => offset
       })
 
+    val consecutiveFailCounter = new AtomicInteger(0)
     def sliceHandledByThisStream(pid: String): Boolean = {
       val slice = persistenceExt.sliceForPersistenceId(pid)
       minSlice <= slice && slice <= maxSlice
@@ -374,16 +378,30 @@ final class GrpcReadJournal private (
     val streamOut: Source[StreamOut, NotUsed] =
       addRequestHeaders(client.eventsBySlices())
         .invoke(streamIn)
+        .statefulMap(() => false)({ (seenElement, out) =>
+          // reset counter on first element
+          if (!seenElement) consecutiveFailCounter.set(0)
+          (true, out)
+        }, _ => None)
         .recover {
           case ex: akka.grpc.GrpcServiceException if ex.status.getCode == Status.Code.UNAVAILABLE =>
-            // this means we couldn't connect, will be retried, relatively common, so make it less noisy
-            throw new ConnectionException(
-              clientSettings.serviceName,
-              clientSettings.servicePortName.getOrElse(clientSettings.defaultPort.toString),
-              streamId)
+            if (consecutiveFailCounter.incrementAndGet() < 5) {
+              // this means we couldn't connect, will be retried (and should succeed), relatively common, so make it less noisy
+              throw new ConnectionException(
+                clientSettings.serviceName,
+                clientSettings.servicePortName.getOrElse(clientSettings.defaultPort.toString),
+                streamId)
+            } else {
+              // we couldn't connect, it failed several times, include cause
+              throw new DetailedConnectionException(
+                clientSettings.serviceName,
+                clientSettings.servicePortName.getOrElse(clientSettings.defaultPort.toString),
+                streamId,
+                ex)
+            }
 
           case th: Throwable =>
-            throw new RuntimeException(s"Failure to consume gRPC event stream for [${streamId}]", th)
+            throw new RuntimeException(s"Failure to consume gRPC event stream for [$streamId]", th)
         }
 
     streamOut.map {
diff --git a/akka-projection-grpc/src/main/scala/akka/projection/grpc/internal/ConnectionException.scala b/akka-projection-grpc/src/main/scala/akka/projection/grpc/internal/ConnectionException.scala
index f360d7f22..43159dafd 100644
--- a/akka-projection-grpc/src/main/scala/akka/projection/grpc/internal/ConnectionException.scala
+++ b/akka-projection-grpc/src/main/scala/akka/projection/grpc/internal/ConnectionException.scala
@@ -15,3 +15,10 @@ import scala.util.control.NoStackTrace
 private[akka] final class ConnectionException(host: String, port: String, streamId: String)
     extends RuntimeException(s"Connection to $host:$port for stream id $streamId failed or lost")
     with NoStackTrace
+
+/**
+ * INTERNAL API
+ */
+@InternalApi
+private[akka] final class DetailedConnectionException(host: String, port: String, streamId: String, cause: Throwable)
+    extends RuntimeException(s"Connection to $host:$port for stream id $streamId failed or lost", cause)