diff --git a/src/session_base.cpp b/src/session_base.cpp
index be425f20..8d720353 100644
--- a/src/session_base.cpp
+++ b/src/session_base.cpp
@@ -460,7 +460,8 @@ void zmq::session_base_t::process_term (int linger_)
         //  TODO: Should this go into pipe_t::terminate ?
         //  In case there's no engine and there's only delimiter in the
         //  pipe it wouldn't be ever read. Thus we check for it explicitly.
-        pipe->check_read ();
+        if (!engine)
+            pipe->check_read ();
     }
 
     if (zap_pipe != NULL)