diff --git a/IPython/parallel/tests/clienttest.py b/IPython/parallel/tests/clienttest.py
index 6e48079..a6e4300 100644
--- a/IPython/parallel/tests/clienttest.py
+++ b/IPython/parallel/tests/clienttest.py
@@ -93,6 +93,8 @@ class ClusterTestCase(BaseZMQTestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         BaseZMQTestCase.setUp(self)
         self.client = self.connect_client()
+        # start every test with clean engine namespaces:
+        self.client.clear(block=True)
         self.base_engine_count=len(self.client.ids)
         self.engines=[]
     
diff --git a/IPython/parallel/tests/test_client.py b/IPython/parallel/tests/test_client.py
index e3069ed..7bcb3e2 100644
--- a/IPython/parallel/tests/test_client.py
+++ b/IPython/parallel/tests/test_client.py
@@ -85,8 +85,8 @@ class TestClient(ClusterTestCase):
         v.push(dict(a=5))
         v.pull('a')
         id0 = self.client.ids[-1]
-        self.client.clear(targets=id0)
-        self.client[:-1].pull('a')
+        self.client.clear(targets=id0, block=True)
+        a = self.client[:-1].get('a')
         self.assertRaisesRemote(NameError, self.client[id0].get, 'a')
         self.client.clear(block=True)
         for i in self.client.ids:
diff --git a/IPython/parallel/tests/test_view.py b/IPython/parallel/tests/test_view.py
index c6b72b5..f28cc30 100644
--- a/IPython/parallel/tests/test_view.py
+++ b/IPython/parallel/tests/test_view.py
@@ -298,7 +298,8 @@ class TestView(ClusterTestCase):
         def findall(pat, s):
             # this globals() step isn't necessary in real code
             # only to prevent a closure in the test
-            return globals()['re'].findall(pat, s)
+            re = globals()['re']
+            return re.findall(pat, s)
         
         self.assertEquals(view.apply_sync(findall, '\w+', 'hello world'), 'hello world'.split())