diff --git a/runtime/drivers/clickhouse/model_manager.go b/runtime/drivers/clickhouse/model_manager.go
index 5f9906f719ae..0a1e167cf2eb 100644
--- a/runtime/drivers/clickhouse/model_manager.go
+++ b/runtime/drivers/clickhouse/model_manager.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package clickhouse
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -282,7 +283,13 @@ func (c *Connection) Exists(ctx context.Context, res *drivers.ModelResult) (bool
 	}
 
 	_, err := olap.InformationSchema().Lookup(ctx, c.config.Database, "", res.Table)
-	return err == nil, nil
+	if err != nil {
+		if errors.Is(err, drivers.ErrNotFound) {
+			return false, nil
+		}
+		return false, err
+	}
+	return true, nil
 }
 
 func (c *Connection) Delete(ctx context.Context, res *drivers.ModelResult) error {
diff --git a/runtime/drivers/duckdb/model_manager.go b/runtime/drivers/duckdb/model_manager.go
index 77d773c33f25..6133c1e671bf 100644
--- a/runtime/drivers/duckdb/model_manager.go
+++ b/runtime/drivers/duckdb/model_manager.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package duckdb
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -137,7 +138,13 @@ func (c *connection) Exists(ctx context.Context, res *drivers.ModelResult) (bool
 	}
 
 	_, err := olap.InformationSchema().Lookup(ctx, "", "", res.Table)
-	return err == nil, nil
+	if err != nil {
+		if errors.Is(err, drivers.ErrNotFound) {
+			return false, nil
+		}
+		return false, err
+	}
+	return true, nil
 }
 
 func (c *connection) Delete(ctx context.Context, res *drivers.ModelResult) error {
diff --git a/runtime/metricsview/executor/executor_validate.go b/runtime/metricsview/executor/executor_validate.go
index 9a0ef88325cd..a44d2af05741 100644
--- a/runtime/metricsview/executor/executor_validate.go
+++ b/runtime/metricsview/executor/executor_validate.go
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ func (e *Executor) ValidateAndNormalizeMetricsView(ctx context.Context) (*Valida
 			res.OtherErrs = append(res.OtherErrs, fmt.Errorf("table %q does not exist", mv.Table))
 			return res, nil
 		}
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not find table %q: %w", mv.Table, err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to look up table %q: %w", mv.Table, err)
 	}
 
 	// Populate empty database/databaseSchema from table metadata for StarRocks only.
diff --git a/runtime/reconcilers/model.go b/runtime/reconcilers/model.go
index b88bba67b491..5a4750367739 100644
--- a/runtime/reconcilers/model.go
+++ b/runtime/reconcilers/model.go
@@ -277,8 +277,19 @@ func (r *ModelReconciler) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, n *runtimev1.ResourceNa
 	var exists bool
 	if prevManager != nil {
 		exists, err = prevManager.Exists(ctx, prevResult)
+		// If the check errored, we can't know if the output is still there.
+		// Treating it as missing could trigger a destructive full reset on a transient failure,
+		// so we return the error instead and let the next reconcile retry.
+		// Exception: a manually triggered full refresh is an explicit instruction to rebuild,
+		// so we let it proceed as the escape hatch for a persistently failing check.
 		if err != nil {
-			r.C.Logger.Warn("failed to check if model output exists", zap.String("model", n.Name), zap.Error(err), observability.ZapCtx(ctx))
+			if !model.Spec.TriggerFull {
+				return runtime.ReconcileResult{
+					Err:       fmt.Errorf("failed to check if model output exists (trigger a full refresh to rebuild anyway): %w", err),
+					Retrigger: refreshOn,
+				}
+			}
+			r.C.Logger.Warn("failed to check if model output exists, proceeding because a full refresh was manually triggered", zap.String("model", n.Name), zap.Error(err), observability.ZapCtx(ctx))
 		}
 	}