diff --git a/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-rcar.c b/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-rcar.c
index 3c1c817f6968..e152716bf07f 100644
--- a/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-rcar.c
+++ b/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-rcar.c
@@ -812,8 +812,12 @@ static int rcar_i2c_master_xfer(struct i2c_adapter *adap,
 
 	time_left = wait_event_timeout(priv->wait, priv->flags & ID_DONE,
 				     num * adap->timeout);
-	if (!time_left) {
+
+	/* cleanup DMA if it couldn't complete properly due to an error */
+	if (priv->dma_direction != DMA_NONE)
 		rcar_i2c_cleanup_dma(priv);
+
+	if (!time_left) {
 		rcar_i2c_init(priv);
 		ret = -ETIMEDOUT;
 	} else if (priv->flags & ID_NACK) {