diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 36d9b002f81..189241967c9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ With this release InfluxDB is moving to Go 1.5.
 - [#3886](https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb/pull/3886): Prevent write timeouts due to lock contention in WAL
 - [#3574](https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb/issues/3574): Querying data node causes panic
 - [#3913](https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb/issues/3913): Convert meta shard owners to objects
+- [#3927](https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb/issues/3927): Add WAL lock to prevent timing lock contention
 
 ## v0.9.3 [2015-08-26]
 
diff --git a/tsdb/engine/wal/wal.go b/tsdb/engine/wal/wal.go
index b3627592072..e316424c4a0 100644
--- a/tsdb/engine/wal/wal.go
+++ b/tsdb/engine/wal/wal.go
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ type Log struct {
 	path string
 
 	flush              chan int    // signals a background flush on the given partition
+	flushLock          sync.Mutex  // serializes access to flushing to index
 	flushCheckTimer    *time.Timer // check this often to see if a background flush should happen
 	flushCheckInterval time.Duration
 
@@ -675,6 +676,10 @@ func (l *Log) flushMetadata() error {
 		}
 	}
 
+	// Lock before flushing to ensure timing is not spent waiting for lock.
+	l.flushLock.Lock()
+	defer l.flushLock.Unlock()
+
 	startTime := time.Now()
 	if l.EnableLogging {
 		l.logger.Printf("Flushing %d measurements and %d series to index\n", len(measurements), len(series))
@@ -1064,29 +1069,35 @@ func (p *Partition) flushAndCompact(flush flushType) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	startTime := time.Now()
-	if p.log.EnableLogging {
-		ftype := "idle"
-		if flush == thresholdFlush {
-			ftype = "threshold"
-		} else if flush == memoryFlush {
-			ftype = "memory"
-		}
-		pointCount := 0
-		for _, a := range c.seriesToFlush {
-			pointCount += len(a)
+	// Lock before flushing to ensure timing is not spent waiting for lock.
+	func() {
+		p.log.flushLock.Lock()
+		defer p.log.flushLock.Unlock()
+
+		startTime := time.Now()
+		if p.log.EnableLogging {
+			ftype := "idle"
+			if flush == thresholdFlush {
+				ftype = "threshold"
+			} else if flush == memoryFlush {
+				ftype = "memory"
+			}
+			pointCount := 0
+			for _, a := range c.seriesToFlush {
+				pointCount += len(a)
+			}
+			p.log.logger.Printf("Flush due to %s. Flushing %d series with %d points and %d bytes from partition %d. Compacting %d series\n", ftype, len(c.seriesToFlush), pointCount, c.flushSize, p.id, c.countCompacting)
 		}
-		p.log.logger.Printf("Flush due to %s. Flushing %d series with %d points and %d bytes from partition %d. Compacting %d series\n", ftype, len(c.seriesToFlush), pointCount, c.flushSize, p.id, c.countCompacting)
-	}
 
-	// write the data to the index first
-	if err := p.index.WriteIndex(c.seriesToFlush, nil, nil); err != nil {
-		// if we can't write the index, we should just bring down the server hard
-		panic(fmt.Sprintf("error writing the wal to the index: %s", err.Error()))
-	}
-	if p.log.EnableLogging {
-		p.log.logger.Printf("write to index took of partition %d took %s\n", p.id, time.Since(startTime))
-	}
+		// write the data to the index first
+		if err := p.index.WriteIndex(c.seriesToFlush, nil, nil); err != nil {
+			// if we can't write the index, we should just bring down the server hard
+			panic(fmt.Sprintf("error writing the wal to the index: %s", err.Error()))
+		}
+		if p.log.EnableLogging {
+			p.log.logger.Printf("write to index of partition %d took %s\n", p.id, time.Since(startTime))
+		}
+	}()
 
 	// clear the flush cache and reset the memory thresholds
 	p.mu.Lock()
@@ -1101,7 +1112,7 @@ func (p *Partition) flushAndCompact(flush flushType) error {
 		p.mu.Unlock()
 	}()
 
-	startTime = time.Now()
+	startTime := time.Now()
 	err = p.compactFiles(c, flush)
 	if p.log.EnableLogging {
 		p.log.logger.Printf("compaction of partition %d took %s\n", p.id, time.Since(startTime))