diff --git a/db/db.cpp b/db/db.cpp
index bcba698b22e..b03651ef5b9 100644
--- a/db/db.cpp
+++ b/db/db.cpp
@@ -457,6 +457,8 @@ sendmore:
         }
     }
     
+    void flushDiagLog();
+
     /**
      * does background async flushes of mmapped files
      */
@@ -472,6 +474,7 @@ sendmore:
                 log(1) << "--syncdelay " << _sleepsecs << endl;
             int time_flushing = 0;
             while ( ! inShutdown() ){
+                flushDiagLog();
                 if ( _sleepsecs == 0 ){
                     // in case at some point we add an option to change at runtime
                     sleepsecs(5);
diff --git a/db/dbcommands.cpp b/db/dbcommands.cpp
index 4e4ab9c3b70..3930161bc52 100644
--- a/db/dbcommands.cpp
+++ b/db/dbcommands.cpp
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 namespace mongo {
 
     extern int otherTraceLevel;
-    void flushOpLog( stringstream &ss );
+    void flushDiagLog();
 
     /* reset any errors so that getlasterror comes back clean.
 
@@ -460,9 +460,7 @@ namespace mongo {
         virtual LockType locktype() const { return WRITE; } 
         bool run(const string& dbname , BSONObj& cmdObj, string& errmsg, BSONObjBuilder& result, bool) {
             int was = _diaglog.setLevel( cmdObj.firstElement().numberInt() );
-            stringstream ss;
-            flushOpLog( ss );
-            out() << ss.str() << endl;
+            flushDiagLog();
             if ( !cmdLine.quiet )
                 tlog() << "CMD: diagLogging set to " << _diaglog.level << " from: " << was << endl;
             result.append( "was" , was );
diff --git a/db/instance.cpp b/db/instance.cpp
index ad544bd04ad..1031c7f0c7b 100644
--- a/db/instance.cpp
+++ b/db/instance.cpp
@@ -62,9 +62,9 @@ namespace mongo {
     bool useCursors = true;
     bool useHints = true;
     
-    void flushOpLog( stringstream &ss ) {
+    void flushDiagLog() {
         if( _diaglog.f && _diaglog.f->is_open() ) {
-            ss << "flushing op log and files\n";
+            log() << "flushing diag log" << endl;
             _diaglog.flush();
         }
     }
@@ -745,9 +745,7 @@ namespace mongo {
         ListeningSockets::get()->closeAll();
 
         log() << "shutdown: going to flush oplog..." << endl;
-        stringstream ss2;
-        flushOpLog( ss2 );
-        rawOut( ss2.str() );
+        flushDiagLog();
 
         /* must do this before unmapping mem or you may get a seg fault */
         log() << "shutdown: going to close sockets..." << endl;