diff --git a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
index 0d4a9dda6c..516e1e3db5 100644
--- a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
@@ -625,9 +625,7 @@ function start-kube-scheduler {
 # Starts cluster autoscaler.
 function start-cluster-autoscaler {
   if [ "${ENABLE_NODE_AUTOSCALER:-}" = "true" ]; then
-    touch /etc/kubernetes/start-cluster-autoscaler-enabled
-
-     # Remove salt comments and replace variables with values
+    # Remove salt comments and replace variables with values
     src_file="${KUBE_HOME}/kube-manifests/kubernetes/gci-trusty/cluster-autoscaler.manifest"
     remove-salt-config-comments "${src_file}"