diff --git a/webclient/http1/src/main/java/io/helidon/webclient/http1/Http1ClientResponseImpl.java b/webclient/http1/src/main/java/io/helidon/webclient/http1/Http1ClientResponseImpl.java
index 16d4edc47bc..9b01529a10b 100644
--- a/webclient/http1/src/main/java/io/helidon/webclient/http1/Http1ClientResponseImpl.java
+++ b/webclient/http1/src/main/java/io/helidon/webclient/http1/Http1ClientResponseImpl.java
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ class Http1ClientResponseImpl implements Http1ClientResponse {
     private final CompletableFuture<io.helidon.http.Headers> trailers = new CompletableFuture<>();
     private boolean entityRequested;
     private long entityLength;
+    private volatile boolean entityFullyRead = false;
 
     Http1ClientResponseImpl(HttpClientConfig clientConfig,
                             Status responseStatus,
@@ -96,7 +97,7 @@ class Http1ClientResponseImpl implements Http1ClientResponse {
         this.whenComplete = whenComplete;
 
         if (responseHeaders.contains(HeaderNames.CONTENT_LENGTH)) {
-            this.entityLength = Long.parseLong(responseHeaders.get(HeaderNames.CONTENT_LENGTH).value());
+            this.entityLength = Long.parseLong(responseHeaders.get(HeaderNames.CONTENT_LENGTH).get());
         } else if (responseHeaders.contains(HeaderValues.TRANSFER_ENCODING_CHUNKED)) {
             this.entityLength = ENTITY_LENGTH_CHUNKED;
         }
@@ -166,10 +167,10 @@ public void close() {
                     } else if (entityLength == ENTITY_LENGTH_CHUNKED) {
                         if (hasTrailers) {
                             readTrailers();
-                            connection.releaseResource();
-                        } else {
-                            connection.closeResource();
                         }
+                        connection.releaseResource();
+                    } else if (entityFullyRead) {
+                        connection.releaseResource();
                     } else {
                         connection.closeResource();
                     }
@@ -208,13 +209,18 @@ private ReadableEntity entity(ClientRequestHeaders requestHeaders,
         }
         return ClientResponseEntity.create(
                 this::readBytes,
-                this::close,
+                this::entityFullyRead,
                 requestHeaders,
                 responseHeaders,
                 mediaContext
         );
     }
 
+    private void entityFullyRead() {
+        this.entityFullyRead = true;
+        this.close();
+    }
+
     private void readTrailers() {
         this.trailers.complete(Http1HeadersParser.readHeaders(connection.reader(), 1024, true));
     }
diff --git a/webclient/tests/http1/src/test/java/io/helidon/webclient/tests/KeepAliveTest.java b/webclient/tests/http1/src/test/java/io/helidon/webclient/tests/KeepAliveTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..74a2c5602c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/webclient/tests/http1/src/test/java/io/helidon/webclient/tests/KeepAliveTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2023 Oracle and/or its affiliates.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+
+package io.helidon.webclient.tests;
+
+import io.helidon.http.HeaderValues;
+import io.helidon.http.Method;
+import io.helidon.http.Status;
+import io.helidon.webclient.api.WebClient;
+import io.helidon.webserver.http.HttpRouting;
+import io.helidon.webserver.testing.junit5.ServerTest;
+import io.helidon.webserver.testing.junit5.SetUpRoute;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.ValueSource;
+
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
+
+
+@ServerTest
+class KeepAliveTest {
+
+    private final WebClient client;
+
+    @SetUpRoute
+    static void route(HttpRouting.Builder router) {
+        router.any("/entity-port", (req, res) -> res
+                .send(String.valueOf(req.remotePeer().port())));
+        router.any("/entity-chunked", (req, res) -> {
+            res.header(HeaderValues.TRANSFER_ENCODING_CHUNKED);
+            try (var os = res.outputStream()) {
+                os.write(String.valueOf(req.remotePeer().port()).getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+            }
+        });
+        router.any("/empty-chunked", (req, res) -> {
+            res.header(HeaderValues.TRANSFER_ENCODING_CHUNKED);
+            res.status(req.remotePeer().port());
+            res.outputStream().close();
+        });
+        router.any("/empty", (req, res) -> res.status(req.remotePeer().port()).send());
+    }
+
+    KeepAliveTest(WebClient client) {
+        this.client = client;
+    }
+
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @ValueSource(strings = {"GET", "PUT", "POST", "DELETE"})
+    void noEntity(String method) {
+        var m = Method.create(method);
+        Status port;
+        try(var res = client.method(m).path("/empty").request()){
+            port = res.status();
+        }
+
+        try(var res2 = client.method(m).path("/empty").request()){
+            assertThat(res2.status(), is(port));
+        }
+    }
+
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @ValueSource(strings = {"GET", "PUT", "POST", "DELETE"})
+    void noReqEntity(String method) {
+        var m = Method.create(method);
+        String port;
+        try(var res = client.method(m).path("/entity-port").request()){
+            port = res.as(String.class);
+        }
+        try(var res2 = client.method(m).path("/entity-port").request()){
+            assertThat(res2.as(String.class), is(port));
+        }
+    }
+
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @ValueSource(strings = {"GET", "PUT", "POST", "DELETE"})
+    void noReqEntityChunked(String method) {
+        var m = Method.create(method);
+        String port;
+        try(var res = client.method(m).path("/entity-chunked").request()){
+            port = res.as(String.class);
+        }
+        try(var res2 = client.method(m).path("/entity-chunked").request()){
+            assertThat(res2.as(String.class), is(port));
+        }
+    }
+
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @ValueSource(strings = {"PUT", "POST"})
+    void noResEntity(String method) {
+        var m = Method.create(method);
+        Status port;
+        try(var res = client.method(m).path("/empty").submit("Hello")){
+            port = res.status();
+        }
+        try(var res2 = client.method(m).path("/empty").submit("Hello")){
+            assertThat(res2.status(), is(port));
+        }
+    }
+
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @ValueSource(strings = {"PUT", "POST"})
+    void noResEntityChunked(String method) {
+        var m = Method.create(method);
+        Status port;
+        try(var res = client.method(m).path("/empty-chunked").submit("Hello")){
+            port = res.status();
+        }
+        try(var res2 = client.method(m).path("/empty-chunked").submit("Hello")){
+            assertThat(res2.status(), is(port));
+        }
+    }
+
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @ValueSource(strings = {"PUT", "POST"})
+    void withReqResEntity(String method) {
+        var m = Method.create(method);
+        String port;
+        try(var res = client.method(m).path("/entity-port").submit("Hello")){
+            port = res.as(String.class);
+        }
+        try(var res2 = client.method(m).path("/entity-port").submit("Hello")){
+            assertThat(res2.as(String.class), is(port));
+        }
+    }
+}