diff --git a/.changelog/11585.txt b/.changelog/11585.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..833e3ba5bb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/11585.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:bug
+client: Fixed a bug where clients would ignore the `client_auto_join` setting after losing connection with the servers, causing them to incorrectly fallback to Consul discovery if it was set to `false`.
+```
diff --git a/client/client.go b/client/client.go
index 5bc142406cf..8b6d0ad75e2 100644
--- a/client/client.go
+++ b/client/client.go
@@ -2690,11 +2690,13 @@ func taskIsPresent(taskName string, tasks []*structs.Task) bool {
 
 // triggerDiscovery causes a Consul discovery to begin (if one hasn't already)
 func (c *Client) triggerDiscovery() {
-	select {
-	case c.triggerDiscoveryCh <- struct{}{}:
-		// Discovery goroutine was released to execute
-	default:
-		// Discovery goroutine was already running
+	if c.configCopy.ConsulConfig.ClientAutoJoin != nil && *c.configCopy.ConsulConfig.ClientAutoJoin {
+		select {
+		case c.triggerDiscoveryCh <- struct{}{}:
+			// Discovery goroutine was released to execute
+		default:
+			// Discovery goroutine was already running
+		}
 	}
 }