diff --git a/app/vmselect/netstorage/netstorage.go b/app/vmselect/netstorage/netstorage.go
index f49f1d54cd..452ad5eddd 100644
--- a/app/vmselect/netstorage/netstorage.go
+++ b/app/vmselect/netstorage/netstorage.go
@@ -1316,12 +1316,21 @@ func (sn *storageNode) execOnConn(rpcName string, f func(bc *handshake.BufferedC
 		<-sn.concurrentQueriesCh
 	}()
 
+	d := time.Unix(int64(deadline.Deadline()), 0)
+	nowSecs := fasttime.UnixTimestamp()
+	currentTime := time.Unix(int64(nowSecs), 0)
+	timeout := d.Sub(currentTime)
+	if timeout <= 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("request timeout reached: %s", deadline.String())
+	}
 	bc, err := sn.connPool.Get()
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("cannot obtain connection from a pool: %w", err)
 	}
-	d := time.Unix(int64(deadline.Deadline()), 0)
-	if err := bc.SetDeadline(d); err != nil {
+	// Extend the connection deadline by 2 seconds, so the remote storage could return `timeout` error
+	// without the need to break the connection.
+	connDeadline := d.Add(2 * time.Second)
+	if err := bc.SetDeadline(connDeadline); err != nil {
 		_ = bc.Close()
 		logger.Panicf("FATAL: cannot set connection deadline: %s", err)
 	}
@@ -1333,16 +1342,8 @@ func (sn *storageNode) execOnConn(rpcName string, f func(bc *handshake.BufferedC
 	}
 
 	// Send the remaining timeout instead of deadline to remote server, since it may have different time.
-	now := fasttime.UnixTimestamp()
-	timeout := uint64(0)
-	if deadline.Deadline() > now {
-		timeout = deadline.Deadline() - now
-	}
-	if timeout > (1<<32)-2 {
-		timeout = (1 << 32) - 2
-	}
-	timeout++
-	if err := writeUint32(bc, uint32(timeout)); err != nil {
+	timeoutSecs := uint32(timeout.Seconds() + 1)
+	if err := writeUint32(bc, timeoutSecs); err != nil {
 		// Close the connection instead of returning it to the pool,
 		// since it may be broken.
 		_ = bc.Close()
diff --git a/app/vmselect/searchutils/searchutils.go b/app/vmselect/searchutils/searchutils.go
index 0a857e9716..084cb73935 100644
--- a/app/vmselect/searchutils/searchutils.go
+++ b/app/vmselect/searchutils/searchutils.go
@@ -15,8 +15,9 @@ import (
 
 var (
 	maxExportDuration   = flag.Duration("search.maxExportDuration", time.Hour*24*30, "The maximum duration for /api/v1/export call")
-	maxQueryDuration    = flag.Duration("search.maxQueryDuration", time.Second*30, "The maximum duration for search query execution")
-	denyPartialResponse = flag.Bool("search.denyPartialResponse", false, "Whether to deny partial responses when some of vmstorage nodes are unavailable. This trades consistency over availability")
+	maxQueryDuration    = flag.Duration("search.maxQueryDuration", time.Second*30, "The maximum duration for query execution")
+	denyPartialResponse = flag.Bool("search.denyPartialResponse", false, "Whether to deny partial responses if a part of -storageNode instances fail to perform queries; "+
+		"this trades availability over consistency; see also -search.maxQueryDuration")
 )
 
 // GetTime returns time from the given argKey query arg.