diff --git a/vertx-db2-client/src/main/java/io/vertx/db2client/impl/DB2SocketConnection.java b/vertx-db2-client/src/main/java/io/vertx/db2client/impl/DB2SocketConnection.java
index 854e72474..69171735e 100644
--- a/vertx-db2-client/src/main/java/io/vertx/db2client/impl/DB2SocketConnection.java
+++ b/vertx-db2-client/src/main/java/io/vertx/db2client/impl/DB2SocketConnection.java
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
 
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelPipeline;
 import io.vertx.core.Completable;
-import io.vertx.core.Handler;
 import io.vertx.core.Promise;
 import io.vertx.core.internal.ContextInternal;
 import io.vertx.core.internal.net.NetSocketInternal;
@@ -43,7 +42,6 @@ public class DB2SocketConnection extends SocketConnectionBase {
 
   private final DB2ConnectOptions connectOptions;
   private DB2Codec codec;
-  private Handler<Void> closeHandler;
   public final ConnectionMetaData connMetadata = new ConnectionMetaData();
   public ConnectionState status = ConnectionState.CONNECTING;
 
@@ -128,14 +126,6 @@ protected <R> void doSchedule(CommandBase<R> cmd, Completable<R> handler) {
     }
   }
 
-  @Override
-  public void handleClose(Throwable t) {
-    super.handleClose(t);
-    if (closeHandler != null) {
-      context().runOnContext(closeHandler);
-    }
-  }
-
   @Override
   public String system() {
     return "db2";
@@ -146,8 +136,4 @@ public DatabaseMetadata databaseMetadata() {
     return connMetadata.getDbMetadata();
   }
 
-  public DB2SocketConnection closeHandler(Handler<Void> handler) {
-    closeHandler = handler;
-    return this;
-  }
 }
diff --git a/vertx-pg-client/src/main/java/io/vertx/pgclient/impl/PgSocketConnection.java b/vertx-pg-client/src/main/java/io/vertx/pgclient/impl/PgSocketConnection.java
index 0f332a135..015f0f3ab 100644
--- a/vertx-pg-client/src/main/java/io/vertx/pgclient/impl/PgSocketConnection.java
+++ b/vertx-pg-client/src/main/java/io/vertx/pgclient/impl/PgSocketConnection.java
@@ -121,15 +121,6 @@ protected void handleMessage(Object msg) {
     }
   }
 
-  @Override
-  protected void handleException(Throwable t) {
-    if (t instanceof PgException) {
-      reportException(t);
-    } else {
-      super.handleException(t);
-    }
-  }
-
   public int getProcessId() {
     return processId;
   }
diff --git a/vertx-pg-client/src/test/java/io/vertx/tests/pgclient/PgConnectionTest.java b/vertx-pg-client/src/test/java/io/vertx/tests/pgclient/PgConnectionTest.java
index 7f4e30ba6..b7b0043bd 100644
--- a/vertx-pg-client/src/test/java/io/vertx/tests/pgclient/PgConnectionTest.java
+++ b/vertx-pg-client/src/test/java/io/vertx/tests/pgclient/PgConnectionTest.java
@@ -134,7 +134,11 @@ public void testCancelRequest(TestContext ctx) {
 
   @Test
   public void testInflightCommandsFailWhenConnectionClosed(TestContext ctx) {
+    Async async = ctx.async();
     connector.accept(ctx.asyncAssertSuccess(conn1 -> {
+      conn1.exceptionHandler(err -> {
+        async.complete();
+      });
       conn1
         .query("SELECT pg_backend_pid()")
         .execute()
diff --git a/vertx-sql-client-codec/src/main/java/io/vertx/sqlclient/codec/SocketConnectionBase.java b/vertx-sql-client-codec/src/main/java/io/vertx/sqlclient/codec/SocketConnectionBase.java
index a9993ddcd..85b912b40 100644
--- a/vertx-sql-client-codec/src/main/java/io/vertx/sqlclient/codec/SocketConnectionBase.java
+++ b/vertx-sql-client-codec/src/main/java/io/vertx/sqlclient/codec/SocketConnectionBase.java
@@ -87,6 +87,8 @@ public enum Status {
   protected final NetSocketInternal socket;
   protected Status status = Status.CONNECTED;
 
+  private Throwable exceptionReport;
+
   public SocketConnectionBase(NetSocketInternal socket,
                               ClientMetrics metrics,
                               boolean cachePreparedStatements,
@@ -147,13 +149,7 @@ public io.vertx.core.Context context() {
   public void init() {
     socket.closeHandler(this::handleClosed);
     socket.exceptionHandler(this::handleException);
-    socket.messageHandler(msg -> {
-      try {
-        handleMessage(msg);
-      } catch (Exception e) {
-        handleException(e);
-      }
-    });
+    socket.messageHandler(this::handleMessage);
     socket.readCompletionHandler(this::handleReadComplete);
   }
 
@@ -413,18 +409,18 @@ private void removeCachedStatement(String sql) {
   }
 
   private void handleClosed(Void v) {
-    handleClose(null);
+    handleClose(exceptionReport);
   }
 
-  protected void handleException(Throwable t) {
+  private void handleException(Throwable t) {
     if (t instanceof DecoderException) {
       DecoderException err = (DecoderException) t;
       t = err.getCause();
     }
-    handleClose(t);
+    exceptionReport = t;
   }
 
-  protected void reportException(Throwable t) {
+  private void reportException(Throwable t) {
     synchronized (this) {
       if (holder != null) {
         holder.handleException(t);
@@ -432,7 +428,7 @@ protected void reportException(Throwable t) {
     }
   }
 
-  protected void handleClose(Throwable t) {
+  private void handleClose(Throwable t) {
     if (status != Status.CLOSED) {
       status = Status.CLOSED;
       if (metrics != null) {