diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/status/manager.go b/pkg/kubelet/status/manager.go
index ae1871a6f6..0339626143 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/status/manager.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/status/manager.go
@@ -109,8 +109,6 @@ func NewManager(kubeClient clientset.Interface, podManager kubepod.Manager) Mana
 // This method normalizes the status before comparing so as to make sure that meaningless
 // changes will be ignored.
 func isStatusEqual(oldStatus, status *api.PodStatus) bool {
-	normalizeStatus(oldStatus)
-	normalizeStatus(status)
 	return api.Semantic.DeepEqual(status, oldStatus)
 }
 
@@ -146,7 +144,11 @@ func (m *manager) GetPodStatus(uid types.UID) (api.PodStatus, bool) {
 func (m *manager) SetPodStatus(pod *api.Pod, status api.PodStatus) {
 	m.podStatusesLock.Lock()
 	defer m.podStatusesLock.Unlock()
-
+	// Make sure we're caching a deep copy.
+	status, err := copyStatus(&status)
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
 	m.updateStatusInternal(pod, status)
 }
 
@@ -188,12 +190,10 @@ func (m *manager) SetContainerReadiness(podUID types.UID, containerID kubecontai
 	}
 
 	// Make sure we're not updating the cached version.
-	clone, err := api.Scheme.DeepCopy(&oldStatus.status)
+	status, err := copyStatus(&oldStatus.status)
 	if err != nil {
-		glog.Errorf("Failed to clone status %+v: %v", oldStatus.status, err)
 		return
 	}
-	status := *clone.(*api.PodStatus)
 	status.ContainerStatuses[containerIndex].Ready = ready
 
 	// Update pod condition.
@@ -267,6 +267,7 @@ func (m *manager) updateStatusInternal(pod *api.Pod, status api.PodStatus) bool
 		status.StartTime = &now
 	}
 
+	normalizeStatus(&status)
 	// The intent here is to prevent concurrent updates to a pod's status from
 	// clobbering each other so the phase of a pod progresses monotonically.
 	if isCached && isStatusEqual(&cachedStatus.status, &status) && pod.DeletionTimestamp == nil {
@@ -435,13 +436,19 @@ func (m *manager) needsReconcile(uid types.UID, status api.PodStatus) bool {
 		pod = mirrorPod
 	}
 
-	if isStatusEqual(&pod.Status, &status) {
+	podStatus, err := copyStatus(&pod.Status)
+	if err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	normalizeStatus(&podStatus)
+
+	if isStatusEqual(&podStatus, &status) {
 		// If the status from the source is the same with the cached status,
 		// reconcile is not needed. Just return.
 		return false
 	}
 	glog.V(3).Infof("Pod status is inconsistent with cached status for pod %q, a reconciliation should be triggered:\n %+v", format.Pod(pod),
-		util.ObjectDiff(pod.Status, status))
+		util.ObjectDiff(podStatus, status))
 
 	return true
 }
@@ -495,3 +502,13 @@ func notRunning(statuses []api.ContainerStatus) bool {
 	}
 	return true
 }
+
+func copyStatus(source *api.PodStatus) (api.PodStatus, error) {
+	clone, err := api.Scheme.DeepCopy(source)
+	if err != nil {
+		glog.Errorf("Failed to clone status %+v: %v", source, err)
+		return api.PodStatus{}, err
+	}
+	status := *clone.(*api.PodStatus)
+	return status, nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/status/manager_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/status/manager_test.go
index 7a77fa744c..669b89e575 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/status/manager_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/status/manager_test.go
@@ -205,8 +205,9 @@ func TestChangedStatusKeepsStartTime(t *testing.T) {
 	if finalStatus.StartTime.IsZero() {
 		t.Errorf("StartTime should not be zero")
 	}
-	if !finalStatus.StartTime.Time.Equal(now.Time) {
-		t.Errorf("Expected %v, but got %v", now.Time, finalStatus.StartTime.Time)
+	expected := now.Rfc3339Copy()
+	if !finalStatus.StartTime.Equal(expected) {
+		t.Errorf("Expected %v, but got %v", expected, finalStatus.StartTime)
 	}
 }
 
@@ -464,8 +465,10 @@ func TestStatusEquality(t *testing.T) {
 		oldPodStatus := api.PodStatus{
 			ContainerStatuses: shuffle(podStatus.ContainerStatuses),
 		}
+		normalizeStatus(&oldPodStatus)
+		normalizeStatus(&podStatus)
 		if !isStatusEqual(&oldPodStatus, &podStatus) {
-			t.Fatalf("Order of container statuses should not affect equality.")
+			t.Fatalf("Order of container statuses should not affect normalized equality.")
 		}
 	}
 }
@@ -494,6 +497,7 @@ func TestStaticPodStatus(t *testing.T) {
 
 	m.SetPodStatus(staticPod, status)
 	retrievedStatus := expectPodStatus(t, m, staticPod)
+	normalizeStatus(&status)
 	assert.True(t, isStatusEqual(&status, &retrievedStatus), "Expected: %+v, Got: %+v", status, retrievedStatus)
 	retrievedStatus, _ = m.GetPodStatus(mirrorPod.UID)
 	assert.True(t, isStatusEqual(&status, &retrievedStatus), "Expected: %+v, Got: %+v", status, retrievedStatus)