diff --git a/server/consumer.go b/server/consumer.go
index 61d6420bd37..e6b8395a7c5 100644
--- a/server/consumer.go
+++ b/server/consumer.go
@@ -1637,6 +1637,16 @@ func (o *consumer) updateDeliveryInterest(localInterest bool) bool {
 	return false
 }
 
+const (
+	defaultConsumerNotActiveStartInterval = 30 * time.Second
+	defaultConsumerNotActiveMaxInterval   = 5 * time.Minute
+)
+
+var (
+	consumerNotActiveStartInterval = defaultConsumerNotActiveStartInterval
+	consumerNotActiveMaxInterval   = defaultConsumerNotActiveMaxInterval
+)
+
 func (o *consumer) deleteNotActive() {
 	o.mu.Lock()
 	if o.mset == nil {
@@ -1702,12 +1712,9 @@ func (o *consumer) deleteNotActive() {
 			// Check to make sure we went away.
 			// Don't think this needs to be a monitored go routine.
 			go func() {
-				const (
-					startInterval = 30 * time.Second
-					maxInterval   = 5 * time.Minute
-				)
-				jitter := time.Duration(rand.Int63n(int64(startInterval)))
-				interval := startInterval + jitter
+				const ()
+				jitter := time.Duration(rand.Int63n(int64(consumerNotActiveStartInterval)))
+				interval := consumerNotActiveStartInterval + jitter
 				ticker := time.NewTicker(interval)
 				defer ticker.Stop()
 				for range ticker.C {
@@ -1722,7 +1729,7 @@ func (o *consumer) deleteNotActive() {
 					if nca != nil && nca == ca {
 						s.Warnf("Consumer assignment for '%s > %s > %s' not cleaned up, retrying", acc, stream, name)
 						meta.ForwardProposal(removeEntry)
-						if interval < maxInterval {
+						if interval < consumerNotActiveMaxInterval {
 							interval *= 2
 							ticker.Reset(interval)
 						}
diff --git a/server/jetstream_cluster_3_test.go b/server/jetstream_cluster_3_test.go
index 045aa5c1c79..001b114c9ee 100644
--- a/server/jetstream_cluster_3_test.go
+++ b/server/jetstream_cluster_3_test.go
@@ -1600,6 +1600,11 @@ func TestJetStreamClusterParallelConsumerCreation(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestJetStreamClusterGhostEphemeralsAfterRestart(t *testing.T) {
+	consumerNotActiveStartInterval = time.Second * 5
+	defer func() {
+		consumerNotActiveStartInterval = defaultConsumerNotActiveStartInterval
+	}()
+
 	c := createJetStreamClusterExplicit(t, "R3S", 3)
 	defer c.shutdown()
 
@@ -1632,6 +1637,7 @@ func TestJetStreamClusterGhostEphemeralsAfterRestart(t *testing.T) {
 	time.Sleep(2 * time.Second)
 
 	// Restart first and wait so that we know it will try cleanup without a metaleader.
+	// It will fail as there's no metaleader at that time, it should keep retrying on an interval.
 	c.restartServer(rs)
 	time.Sleep(time.Second)
 
@@ -1643,8 +1649,9 @@ func TestJetStreamClusterGhostEphemeralsAfterRestart(t *testing.T) {
 	defer nc.Close()
 
 	subj := fmt.Sprintf(JSApiConsumerListT, "TEST")
-	checkFor(t, 10*time.Second, 200*time.Millisecond, func() error {
-		m, err := nc.Request(subj, nil, time.Second)
+	checkFor(t, 20*time.Second, 200*time.Millisecond, func() error {
+		// Request will take at most 4 seconds if some consumers can't be found.
+		m, err := nc.Request(subj, nil, 5*time.Second)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
diff --git a/server/norace_test.go b/server/norace_test.go
index 5e01b6b9ed0..98d29cb2bc0 100644
--- a/server/norace_test.go
+++ b/server/norace_test.go
@@ -6577,6 +6577,11 @@ func TestNoRaceJetStreamConsumerCreateTimeNumPending(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestNoRaceJetStreamClusterGhostConsumers(t *testing.T) {
+	consumerNotActiveStartInterval = time.Second * 5
+	defer func() {
+		consumerNotActiveStartInterval = defaultConsumerNotActiveStartInterval
+	}()
+
 	c := createJetStreamClusterExplicit(t, "GHOST", 3)
 	defer c.shutdown()
 
@@ -6670,22 +6675,17 @@ func TestNoRaceJetStreamClusterGhostConsumers(t *testing.T) {
 	time.Sleep(5 * time.Second)
 	cancel()
 
-	getMissing := func() []string {
-		m, err := nc.Request("$JS.API.CONSUMER.LIST.TEST", nil, time.Second*10)
-		require_NoError(t, err)
-
+	checkFor(t, 30*time.Second, time.Second, func() error {
+		m, err := nc.Request("$JS.API.CONSUMER.LIST.TEST", nil, time.Second)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 		var resp JSApiConsumerListResponse
-		err = json.Unmarshal(m.Data, &resp)
-		require_NoError(t, err)
-		return resp.Missing
-	}
-
-	checkFor(t, 10*time.Second, 500*time.Millisecond, func() error {
-		missing := getMissing()
-		if len(missing) == 0 {
+		require_NoError(t, json.Unmarshal(m.Data, &resp))
+		if len(resp.Missing) == 0 {
 			return nil
 		}
-		return fmt.Errorf("Still have missing: %+v", missing)
+		return fmt.Errorf("Still have missing: %+v", resp.Missing)
 	})
 }