diff --git a/client/ping.go b/client/ping.go
index 0ebb6b752b..e4d9be447d 100644
--- a/client/ping.go
+++ b/client/ping.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"path"
 
+	"github.com/docker/docker/api/server/httputils"
 	"github.com/docker/docker/api/types"
 )
 
@@ -14,6 +15,10 @@ import (
 // by the daemon.
 func (cli *Client) Ping(ctx context.Context) (types.Ping, error) {
 	var ping types.Ping
+
+	// Using cli.buildRequest() + cli.doRequest() instead of cli.sendRequest()
+	// because ping requests are used during  API version negotiation, so we want
+	// to hit the non-versioned /_ping endpoint, not /v1.xx/_ping
 	req, err := cli.buildRequest("HEAD", path.Join(cli.basePath, "/_ping"), nil, nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		return ping, err
@@ -43,7 +48,8 @@ func (cli *Client) Ping(ctx context.Context) (types.Ping, error) {
 func parsePingResponse(cli *Client, resp serverResponse) (types.Ping, error) {
 	var ping types.Ping
 	if resp.header == nil {
-		return ping, cli.checkResponseErr(resp)
+		err := cli.checkResponseErr(resp)
+		return ping, httputils.FromStatusCode(err, resp.statusCode)
 	}
 	ping.APIVersion = resp.header.Get("API-Version")
 	ping.OSType = resp.header.Get("OSType")
@@ -53,5 +59,6 @@ func parsePingResponse(cli *Client, resp serverResponse) (types.Ping, error) {
 	if bv := resp.header.Get("Builder-Version"); bv != "" {
 		ping.BuilderVersion = types.BuilderVersion(bv)
 	}
-	return ping, cli.checkResponseErr(resp)
+	err := cli.checkResponseErr(resp)
+	return ping, httputils.FromStatusCode(err, resp.statusCode)
 }
diff --git a/client/request.go b/client/request.go
index 52ed12446d..86c03b066d 100644
--- a/client/request.go
+++ b/client/request.go
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"strings"
 
+	"github.com/docker/docker/api/server/httputils"
 	"github.com/docker/docker/api/types"
 	"github.com/docker/docker/api/types/versions"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
@@ -120,9 +121,10 @@ func (cli *Client) sendRequest(ctx context.Context, method, path string, query u
 	}
 	resp, err := cli.doRequest(ctx, req)
 	if err != nil {
-		return resp, err
+		return resp, httputils.FromStatusCode(err, resp.statusCode)
 	}
-	return resp, cli.checkResponseErr(resp)
+	err = cli.checkResponseErr(resp)
+	return resp, httputils.FromStatusCode(err, resp.statusCode)
 }
 
 func (cli *Client) doRequest(ctx context.Context, req *http.Request) (serverResponse, error) {