diff --git a/lib/_http_outgoing.js b/lib/_http_outgoing.js
index 50ef063241b173..872fc04edbadc8 100644
--- a/lib/_http_outgoing.js
+++ b/lib/_http_outgoing.js
@@ -819,10 +819,6 @@ OutgoingMessage.prototype.end = function end(chunk, encoding, callback) {
     encoding = null;
   }
 
-  if (this.socket) {
-    this.socket.cork();
-  }
-
   if (chunk) {
     if (this.finished) {
       onError(this,
@@ -830,6 +826,11 @@ OutgoingMessage.prototype.end = function end(chunk, encoding, callback) {
               typeof callback !== 'function' ? nop : callback);
       return this;
     }
+
+    if (this.socket) {
+      this.socket.cork();
+    }
+
     write_(this, chunk, encoding, null, true);
   } else if (this.finished) {
     if (typeof callback === 'function') {
@@ -841,6 +842,10 @@ OutgoingMessage.prototype.end = function end(chunk, encoding, callback) {
     }
     return this;
   } else if (!this._header) {
+    if (this.socket) {
+      this.socket.cork();
+    }
+
     this._contentLength = 0;
     this._implicitHeader();
   }
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http-outgoing-end-multiple.js b/test/parallel/test-http-outgoing-end-multiple.js
index ed42c913375e84..696443f9390cd0 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-http-outgoing-end-multiple.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http-outgoing-end-multiple.js
@@ -9,10 +9,13 @@ const onWriteAfterEndError = common.mustCall((err) => {
 
 const server = http.createServer(common.mustCall(function(req, res) {
   res.end('testing ended state', common.mustCall());
+  assert.strictEqual(res.writableCorked, 0);
   res.end(common.mustCall((err) => {
     assert.strictEqual(err.code, 'ERR_STREAM_ALREADY_FINISHED');
   }));
+  assert.strictEqual(res.writableCorked, 0);
   res.end('end', onWriteAfterEndError);
+  assert.strictEqual(res.writableCorked, 0);
   res.on('error', onWriteAfterEndError);
   res.on('finish', common.mustCall(() => {
     res.end(common.mustCall((err) => {