diff --git a/src/pkg/encoding/xml/marshal.go b/src/pkg/encoding/xml/marshal.go
index 06bdec4f73..a6ee5d5128 100644
--- a/src/pkg/encoding/xml/marshal.go
+++ b/src/pkg/encoding/xml/marshal.go
@@ -196,6 +196,7 @@ func (enc *Encoder) EncodeToken(t Token) error {
 		p.WriteString("<!--")
 		p.Write(t)
 		p.WriteString("-->")
+		return p.cachedWriteError()
 	case ProcInst:
 		if t.Target == "xml" || !isNameString(t.Target) {
 			return fmt.Errorf("xml: EncodeToken of ProcInst with invalid Target")
@@ -218,7 +219,7 @@ func (enc *Encoder) EncodeToken(t Token) error {
 		p.Write(t)
 		p.WriteString(">")
 	}
-	return p.Flush()
+	return p.cachedWriteError()
 }
 
 type printer struct {
diff --git a/src/pkg/encoding/xml/marshal_test.go b/src/pkg/encoding/xml/marshal_test.go
index 31d4d4d853..8d9239eb4a 100644
--- a/src/pkg/encoding/xml/marshal_test.go
+++ b/src/pkg/encoding/xml/marshal_test.go
@@ -1076,15 +1076,6 @@ func TestMarshalWriteIOErrors(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestEncodeTokenFlush(t *testing.T) {
-	var buf bytes.Buffer
-	enc := NewEncoder(&buf)
-	enc.EncodeToken(StartElement{Name: Name{Local: "some-tag"}})
-	if g, w := buf.String(), "<some-tag>"; g != w {
-		t.Errorf("Encoder wrote %q, want %q", g, w)
-	}
-}
-
 func BenchmarkMarshal(b *testing.B) {
 	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
 		Marshal(atomValue)