diff --git a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
index 8d169cee275..96704072665 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v7.0.0-beta1...master[Check the HEAD di
 
 *Heartbeat*
 
+- Fix checks for TCP send/receive data {pull}11118[11118]
+
 *Journalbeat*
 
 *Metricbeat*
diff --git a/heartbeat/monitors/active/tcp/task.go b/heartbeat/monitors/active/tcp/task.go
index 9729d6ab5e0..4c5523f671a 100644
--- a/heartbeat/monitors/active/tcp/task.go
+++ b/heartbeat/monitors/active/tcp/task.go
@@ -70,7 +70,8 @@ func pingHost(
 		},
 	})
 	if err != nil {
-		event.PutValue("error", reason.FailValidate(err))
+		return reason.MakeValidateError(err)
 	}
+
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/heartbeat/monitors/active/tcp/tcp_test.go b/heartbeat/monitors/active/tcp/tcp_test.go
index fc857a298b5..3b25685636a 100644
--- a/heartbeat/monitors/active/tcp/tcp_test.go
+++ b/heartbeat/monitors/active/tcp/tcp_test.go
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"net/url"
 	"os"
+	"strconv"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
@@ -38,11 +39,16 @@ import (
 )
 
 func testTCPCheck(t *testing.T, host string, port uint16) *beat.Event {
-	config, err := common.NewConfigFrom(common.MapStr{
+	config := common.MapStr{
 		"hosts":   host,
 		"ports":   port,
 		"timeout": "1s",
-	})
+	}
+	return testTCPConfigCheck(t, config, host, port)
+}
+
+func testTCPConfigCheck(t *testing.T, configMap common.MapStr, host string, port uint16) *beat.Event {
+	config, err := common.NewConfigFrom(configMap)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
 	jobs, endpoints, err := create("tcp", config)
@@ -194,3 +200,110 @@ func TestUnreachableEndpointJob(t *testing.T) {
 		event.Fields,
 	)
 }
+
+func TestCheckUp(t *testing.T) {
+	host, port, ip, closeEcho, err := startEchoServer(t)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	defer closeEcho()
+
+	configMap := common.MapStr{
+		"hosts":         host,
+		"ports":         port,
+		"timeout":       "1s",
+		"check.receive": "echo123",
+		"check.send":    "echo123",
+	}
+
+	event := testTCPConfigCheck(t, configMap, host, port)
+
+	mapval.Test(
+		t,
+		mapval.Strict(mapval.Compose(
+			tcpMonitorChecks(host, ip, port, "up"),
+			hbtest.RespondingTCPChecks(),
+			hbtest.SimpleURLChecks(t, "tcp", host, port),
+			hbtest.SummaryChecks(1, 0),
+			mapval.MustCompile(mapval.Map{
+				"resolve": mapval.Map{
+					"ip":     ip,
+					"rtt.us": mapval.IsDuration,
+				},
+				"tcp": mapval.Map{
+					"rtt.validate.us": mapval.IsDuration,
+				},
+			}),
+		)),
+		event.Fields,
+	)
+}
+
+func TestCheckDown(t *testing.T) {
+	host, port, ip, closeEcho, err := startEchoServer(t)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	defer closeEcho()
+
+	configMap := common.MapStr{
+		"hosts":         host,
+		"ports":         port,
+		"timeout":       "1s",
+		"check.receive": "BOOM", // should fail
+		"check.send":    "echo123",
+	}
+
+	event := testTCPConfigCheck(t, configMap, host, port)
+
+	mapval.Test(
+		t,
+		mapval.Strict(mapval.Compose(
+			tcpMonitorChecks(host, ip, port, "down"),
+			hbtest.RespondingTCPChecks(),
+			hbtest.SimpleURLChecks(t, "tcp", host, port),
+			hbtest.SummaryChecks(0, 1),
+			mapval.MustCompile(mapval.Map{
+				"resolve": mapval.Map{
+					"ip":     ip,
+					"rtt.us": mapval.IsDuration,
+				},
+				"tcp": mapval.Map{
+					"rtt.validate.us": mapval.IsDuration,
+				},
+				"error": mapval.Map{
+					"type":    "validate",
+					"message": "received string mismatch",
+				},
+			}),
+		)),
+		event.Fields,
+	)
+}
+
+// startEchoServer starts a simple TCP echo server for testing. Only handles a single connection once.
+// Note you MUST connect to this server exactly once to avoid leaking a goroutine. This is only useful
+// for the specific tests used here.
+func startEchoServer(t *testing.T) (host string, port uint16, ip string, close func() error, err error) {
+	// Simple echo server
+	listener, err := net.Listen("tcp", "localhost:0")
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", 0, "", nil, err
+	}
+	go func() {
+		conn, err := listener.Accept()
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		buf := make([]byte, 1024)
+		rlen, err := conn.Read(buf)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		wlen, err := conn.Write(buf[:rlen])
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		// Normally we'd retry partial writes, but for tests this is OK
+		require.Equal(t, wlen, rlen)
+	}()
+
+	ip, portStr, err := net.SplitHostPort(listener.Addr().String())
+	portUint64, err := strconv.ParseUint(portStr, 10, 16)
+	if err != nil {
+		listener.Close()
+		return "", 0, "", nil, err
+	}
+
+	return "localhost", uint16(portUint64), ip, listener.Close, nil
+}
diff --git a/heartbeat/reason/reason.go b/heartbeat/reason/reason.go
index 08c7724f016..d5fc5e45689 100644
--- a/heartbeat/reason/reason.go
+++ b/heartbeat/reason/reason.go
@@ -68,4 +68,7 @@ func Fail(r Reason) common.MapStr {
 
 func FailIO(err error) common.MapStr { return Fail(IOError{err}) }
 
-func FailValidate(err error) common.MapStr { return Fail(ValidateError{err}) }
+// MakeValidateError creates an instance of ValidateError from the given error.
+func MakeValidateError(err error) ValidateError {
+	return ValidateError{err}
+}