diff --git a/Tasks/JenkinsDownloadArtifactsV1/ArtifactDetails/JenkinsRestClient.ts b/Tasks/JenkinsDownloadArtifactsV1/ArtifactDetails/JenkinsRestClient.ts
index 144929a517f3..f09de38f5dc4 100644
--- a/Tasks/JenkinsDownloadArtifactsV1/ArtifactDetails/JenkinsRestClient.ts
+++ b/Tasks/JenkinsDownloadArtifactsV1/ArtifactDetails/JenkinsRestClient.ts
@@ -213,7 +213,10 @@ export class JenkinsRestClient {
         const jobName = tl.getInput("jobName", true);
         const strictSSL: boolean = ('true' !== tl.getEndpointDataParameter(endpoint, 'acceptUntrustedCerts', true));
         const jobUrlInfix = JenkinsJobDetails.GetJobUrlInfix(jobName);
-        const retryLimit = parseInt(tl.getVariable("VSTS_HTTP_RETRY")) ? parseInt(tl.getVariable("VSTS_HTTP_RETRY")) : 4;
+        
+        const retryLimitValue: string = tl.getVariable("VSTS_HTTP_RETRY");
+        const retryLimit: number = (!!retryLimitValue && !isNaN(parseInt(retryLimitValue))) ? parseInt(retryLimitValue) : 4;
+        tl.debug(`RetryLimit set to ${retryLimit}`);
 
         let requestUrl: string = `${endpointUrl}${jobUrlInfix}/${urlPath}`;
         console.log(tl.loc("DownloadingContentFromJenkinsServer", requestUrl, strictSSL));
diff --git a/Tasks/JenkinsDownloadArtifactsV1/Tests/JenkinsTestHelper.ts b/Tasks/JenkinsDownloadArtifactsV1/Tests/JenkinsTestHelper.ts
index 0ea0607c9dfe..64a7e97082fb 100644
--- a/Tasks/JenkinsDownloadArtifactsV1/Tests/JenkinsTestHelper.ts
+++ b/Tasks/JenkinsDownloadArtifactsV1/Tests/JenkinsTestHelper.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ export interface ExpectedResult {
 
 export function RegisterHttpClientMock(tr: tmrm.TaskMockRunner, getResultCallback: any)
 {
+    // setting retry value to zero as we don't want the test to hang up
+    process.env['VSTS_HTTP_RETRY'] = "0"
+
     tr.registerMock("artifact-engine/Providers/typed-rest-client/HttpClient", {
         HttpClient: function(name, handlers, options) {
             return {
diff --git a/Tasks/JenkinsDownloadArtifactsV1/Tests/L0.ts b/Tasks/JenkinsDownloadArtifactsV1/Tests/L0.ts
index 627a44bd339a..6a75a92ba7d6 100644
--- a/Tasks/JenkinsDownloadArtifactsV1/Tests/L0.ts
+++ b/Tasks/JenkinsDownloadArtifactsV1/Tests/L0.ts
@@ -515,4 +515,23 @@ describe('JenkinsDownloadArtifacts L0 Suite', function () {
             done(err);
         }
     });
+
+    it('Should retry if JenkinsClient encounters an error', (done) => {
+        const tp: string = path.join(__dirname, 'L0ShouldRetryCorrectlyWhenErrorHappens.js');
+        const tr: ttm.MockTestRunner = new ttm.MockTestRunner(tp);
+
+        try {
+            tr.run();
+
+            let expectedMessage: string = "RetryingOperation DownloadJsonContent 1";
+            assert(tr.stdout.indexOf(expectedMessage) != -1, tr.stdout);
+
+            done();
+        } catch(err) {
+            console.log(tr.stdout);
+            console.log(tr.stderr);
+            console.log(err);
+            done(err);
+        }
+    });
 });
diff --git a/Tasks/JenkinsDownloadArtifactsV1/Tests/L0ShouldRetryCorrectlyWhenErrorHappens.ts b/Tasks/JenkinsDownloadArtifactsV1/Tests/L0ShouldRetryCorrectlyWhenErrorHappens.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..bbc5fd04b917
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tasks/JenkinsDownloadArtifactsV1/Tests/L0ShouldRetryCorrectlyWhenErrorHappens.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+import tmrm = require('vsts-task-lib/mock-run');
+import path = require('path');
+import helper = require("./JenkinsTestHelper");
+
+const taskPath = path.join(__dirname, '..', 'jenkinsdownloadartifacts.js');
+const tr: tmrm.TaskMockRunner = new tmrm.TaskMockRunner(taskPath);
+
+tr.setInput("serverEndpoint", "ID1");
+tr.setInput("jobName", "myfreestyleproject")
+tr.setInput("saveTo", "jenkinsArtifacts");
+tr.setInput("filePath", "/");
+tr.setInput("jenkinsBuild", "BuildNumber");
+tr.setInput("jenkinsBuildNumber", "10");
+tr.setInput("itemPattern", "**");
+tr.setInput("downloadCommitsAndWorkItems", "false");
+
+process.env['ENDPOINT_URL_ID1'] = 'http://url';
+process.env['ENDPOINT_AUTH_PARAMETER_connection1_username'] = 'dummyusername';
+process.env['ENDPOINT_AUTH_PARAMETER_connection1_password'] = 'dummypassword';
+process.env['ENDPOINT_DATA_ID1_acceptUntrustedCerts'] = 'true';
+
+helper.RegisterArtifactEngineMock(tr);
+helper.RegisterHttpClientMock(tr, (url: string) => {
+});
+
+process.env['VSTS_HTTP_RETRY'] = "1";
+tr.run();