diff --git a/patroni/dcs/kubernetes.py b/patroni/dcs/kubernetes.py
index 335e284b..b04f5717 100644
--- a/patroni/dcs/kubernetes.py
+++ b/patroni/dcs/kubernetes.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ class KubernetesRetriableException(k8s_client.rest.ApiException):
         self.headers = orig.headers
 
 
-class CoreV1Api(object):
+class CoreV1ApiProxy(object):
 
     def __init__(self, use_endpoints=False):
         self._api = k8s_client.CoreV1Api()
@@ -55,6 +55,21 @@ class CoreV1Api(object):
         return wrapper
 
 
+def catch_kubernetes_errors(func):
+    def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
+        try:
+            return func(*args, **kwargs)
+        except k8s_client.rest.ApiException as e:
+            if e.status == 403:
+                logger.exception('Permission denied')
+            elif e.status != 409:  # Object exists or conflict in resource_version
+                logger.exception('Unexpected error from Kubernetes API')
+            return False
+        except (RetryFailedError, HTTPException, HTTPError, socket.error, socket.timeout):
+            return False
+    return wrapper
+
+
 class Kubernetes(AbstractDCS):
 
     def __init__(self, config):
@@ -84,7 +99,7 @@ class Kubernetes(AbstractDCS):
                 port.update({n: p[n] for n in ('name', 'protocol') if p.get(n)})
                 ports.append(k8s_client.V1EndpointPort(**port))
             self.__subsets = [k8s_client.V1EndpointSubset(addresses=addresses, ports=ports)]
-        self._api = CoreV1Api(use_endpoints)
+        self._api = CoreV1ApiProxy(use_endpoints)
         self.set_retry_timeout(config['retry_timeout'])
         self.set_ttl(config.get('ttl') or 30)
         self._leader_observed_record = {}
@@ -96,16 +111,6 @@ class Kubernetes(AbstractDCS):
     def retry(self, *args, **kwargs):
         return self._retry.copy()(*args, **kwargs)
 
-    def catch_kubernetes_errors(func):
-        @functools.wraps(func)
-        def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
-            try:
-                return func(*args, **kwargs)
-            except (RetryFailedError, k8s_client.rest.ApiException,
-                    HTTPException, HTTPError, socket.error, socket.timeout):
-                return False
-        return wrapper
-
     def client_path(self, path):
         return super(Kubernetes, self).client_path(path)[1:].replace('/', '-')
 
@@ -362,7 +367,6 @@ class Kubernetes(AbstractDCS):
     def delete_cluster(self):
         self.retry(self._api.delete_collection_namespaced_kind, self._namespace, label_selector=self._label_selector)
 
-    @catch_kubernetes_errors
     def set_history_value(self, value):
         patch = bool(self.cluster and self.cluster.config and self.cluster.config.index)
         return self.patch_or_create(self.config_path, {self._HISTORY: value}, None, patch, False)
diff --git a/tests/test_kubernetes.py b/tests/test_kubernetes.py
index 41b8e82b..afb8019b 100644
--- a/tests/test_kubernetes.py
+++ b/tests/test_kubernetes.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import unittest
 
 from mock import Mock, patch
-from patroni.dcs.kubernetes import Kubernetes, KubernetesError, k8s_client, k8s_watch
+from patroni.dcs.kubernetes import Kubernetes, KubernetesError, k8s_client, k8s_watch, RetryFailedError
 
 
 def mock_list_namespaced_config_map(self, *args, **kwargs):
@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@ class TestKubernetes(unittest.TestCase):
         self.k.take_leader()
 
     def test_manual_failover(self):
-        self.k.manual_failover('foo', 'bar')
+        with patch.object(k8s_client.CoreV1Api, 'patch_namespaced_config_map', Mock(side_effect=RetryFailedError(''))):
+            self.k.manual_failover('foo', 'bar')
 
     def test_set_config_value(self):
         self.k.set_config_value('{}')
@@ -79,7 +80,7 @@ class TestKubernetes(unittest.TestCase):
         self.k.cancel_initialization()
 
     @patch.object(k8s_client.CoreV1Api, 'delete_collection_namespaced_config_map',
-                  Mock(side_effect=k8s_client.rest.ApiException(500, '')))
+                  Mock(side_effect=k8s_client.rest.ApiException(403, '')))
     def test_delete_cluster(self):
         self.k.delete_cluster()