diff --git a/IPython/extensions/autoreload.py b/IPython/extensions/autoreload.py
index 7bb5a54..5bd38b3 100644
--- a/IPython/extensions/autoreload.py
+++ b/IPython/extensions/autoreload.py
@@ -268,6 +268,60 @@ def update_function(old, new):
             pass
 
 
+def _find_instances(old_type):
+    """Try to find all instances of a class that need updating.
+
+    Classic graph exploration, we want to avoid re-visiting object multiple times.
+    """
+    # find ipython workspace stack frame, this is just to bootstrap where we
+    # find the object that need updating.
+    frame = next(frame_nfo.frame for frame_nfo in inspect.stack()
+                 if 'trigger' in frame_nfo.function)
+    # build generator for non-private variable values from workspace
+    shell = frame.f_locals['self'].shell
+    user_ns = shell.user_ns
+    user_ns_hidden = shell.user_ns_hidden
+    nonmatching = object()
+    objects = ( value for key, value in user_ns.items()
+            if not key.startswith('_')
+            and (value is not user_ns_hidden.get(key, nonmatching))
+            and not inspect.ismodule(value))
+
+    # note:  in the following we do use dict as object might not be hashable.
+    # list of objects we found that will need an update.
+    to_update = {}
+
+    # list of object we have not recursed into yet
+    open_set = {}
+
+    # list of object we have visited already
+    closed_set = {}
+
+    open_set.update({id(o):o for o in objects})
+
+    it = 0
+    while len(open_set) > 0:
+        it += 1
+        if it > 100_000:
+            raise ValueError('infinite')
+        (current_id,current) =  next(iter(open_set.items()))
+        if type(current) is old_type:
+            to_update[current_id] = current
+        if hasattr(current, '__dict__') and not (inspect.isfunction(current)
+                                                 or inspect.ismethod(current)):
+            potential_new = {id(o):o for o in current.__dict__.values() if id(o) not in closed_set.keys()}
+            open_set.update(potential_new)
+        # if object is a container, search it
+        if hasattr(current, 'items') or (hasattr(current, '__contains__')
+                                         and not isinstance(current, str)):
+            potential_new = (value for key, value in current.items()
+                       if not str(key).startswith('_')
+                       and not inspect.ismodule(value) and not id(value) in closed_set.keys())
+            open_set.update(potential_new)
+        del open_set[id(current)]
+        closed_set[id(current)] = current
+    return to_update.values()
+
 def update_instances(old, new, objects=None):
     """Iterate through objects recursively, searching for instances of old and
     replace their __class__ reference with new. If no objects are given, start 
@@ -319,6 +373,7 @@ def update_instances(old, new, objects=None):
 def update_class(old, new):
     """Replace stuff in the __dict__ of a class, and upgrade
     method code objects, and add new methods, if any"""
+    print('old is', old)
     for key in list(old.__dict__.keys()):
         old_obj = getattr(old, key)
         try:
@@ -350,7 +405,8 @@ def update_class(old, new):
                 pass # skip non-writable attributes
 
     # update all instances of class
-    update_instances(old, new)
+    for instance in _find_instances(old):
+        instance.__class__ = new
 
 
 def update_property(old, new):
diff --git a/IPython/extensions/tests/test_autoreload.py b/IPython/extensions/tests/test_autoreload.py
index 74e0125..40d63ff 100644
--- a/IPython/extensions/tests/test_autoreload.py
+++ b/IPython/extensions/tests/test_autoreload.py
@@ -35,10 +35,12 @@ from IPython.core.events import EventManager, pre_run_cell
 
 noop = lambda *a, **kw: None
 
-class FakeShell(object):
+class FakeShell:
 
     def __init__(self):
         self.ns = {}
+        self.user_ns = {}
+        self.user_ns_hidden = {}
         self.events = EventManager(self, {'pre_run_cell', pre_run_cell})
         self.auto_magics = AutoreloadMagics(shell=self)
         self.events.register('pre_run_cell', self.auto_magics.pre_run_cell)