diff --git a/test/e2e/autoscale_test.go b/test/e2e/autoscale_test.go
index a241ba675..2a65760b2 100644
--- a/test/e2e/autoscale_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/autoscale_test.go
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ func (suite *AutoscaleTestSuite) TestAutoScaleCollector() {
 
 	jaegerInstanceName := "simple-prod"
 	jaegerInstance := getSimpleProd(jaegerInstanceName, namespace, cpuResourceLimit, memoryResourceLimit)
-	createAndWaitFor(jaegerInstance, jaegerInstanceName)
+	createAndWaitFor(jaegerInstance, jaegerInstanceName, false)
 	defer undeployJaegerInstance(jaegerInstance)
 
 	tracegen := createTracegenDeployment(jaegerInstanceName, namespace, tracegenDurationInMinutes, replicas)
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ func (suite *AutoscaleTestSuite) TestAutoScaleIngester() {
 
 	jaegerInstanceName := "simple-streaming"
 	jaegerInstance := getSimpleStreaming(jaegerInstanceName, namespace)
-	createAndWaitFor(jaegerInstance, jaegerInstanceName)
+	createAndWaitFor(jaegerInstance, jaegerInstanceName, true)
 	defer undeployJaegerInstance(jaegerInstance)
 
 	tracegenReplicas := int32(1)
@@ -107,13 +107,18 @@ func (suite *AutoscaleTestSuite) TestAutoScaleIngester() {
 	waitUntilScales(jaegerInstanceName, "ingester")
 }
 
-func createAndWaitFor(jaegerInstance *v1.Jaeger, jaegerInstanceName string) {
+func createAndWaitFor(jaegerInstance *v1.Jaeger, jaegerInstanceName string, waitForIngester bool) {
 	err := fw.Client.Create(context.TODO(), jaegerInstance, &framework.CleanupOptions{TestContext: ctx, Timeout: timeout, RetryInterval: retryInterval})
 	require.NoError(t, err, "Error deploying example Jaeger")
 
 	err = e2eutil.WaitForDeployment(t, fw.KubeClient, namespace, jaegerInstanceName+"-collector", 1, retryInterval, timeout)
 	require.NoError(t, err, "Error waiting for collector deployment")
 
+	if waitForIngester {
+		err = e2eutil.WaitForDeployment(t, fw.KubeClient, namespace, jaegerInstanceName+"-ingester", 1, retryInterval, timeout)
+		require.NoError(t, err, "Error waiting for collector deployment")
+	}
+
 	err = e2eutil.WaitForDeployment(t, fw.KubeClient, namespace, jaegerInstanceName+"-query", 1, retryInterval, timeout)
 	require.NoError(t, err, "Error waiting for query deployment")
 	logrus.Infof("Jaeger instance %s finished deploying in %s", jaegerInstanceName, namespace)
@@ -162,9 +167,19 @@ func getSimpleStreaming(name, namespace string) *v1.Jaeger {
 	collectorOptions := make(map[string]interface{})
 	collectorOptions["kafka.producer.topic"] = "jaeger-spans"
 	collectorOptions["kafka.producer.brokers"] = kafkaClusterURL
-	collectorOptions["kafka.producer.batch-linger"] = "1s"
-	collectorOptions["kafka.producer.batch-size"] = "128000"
-	collectorOptions["kafka.producer.batch-max-messages"] = "100"
+	if !specifyOtelConfig {
+		collectorOptions["kafka.producer.batch-linger"] = "1s"
+		collectorOptions["kafka.producer.batch-size"] = "128000"
+		collectorOptions["kafka.producer.batch-max-messages"] = "100"
+	}
+
+	ingesterOptions := make(map[string]interface{})
+	ingesterOptions["kafka.consumer.topic"] = "jaeger-spans"
+	ingesterOptions["kafka.consumer.brokers"] = kafkaClusterURL
+	if !specifyOtelConfig {
+		ingesterOptions["ingester.parallelism"] = "6900"
+		ingesterOptions["ingester.deadlockInterval"] = 0
+	}
 
 	autoscale := true
 	var minReplicas int32 = 1
@@ -193,12 +208,7 @@ func getSimpleStreaming(name, namespace string) *v1.Jaeger {
 						},
 					},
 				},
-				Options: v1.NewOptions(map[string]interface{}{
-					"kafka.consumer.topic":      "jaeger-spans",
-					"kafka.consumer.brokers":    kafkaClusterURL,
-					"ingester.deadlockInterval": "0",
-					"ingester.parallelism":      "6900",
-				}),
+				Options: v1.NewOptions(ingesterOptions),
 				AutoScaleSpec: v1.AutoScaleSpec{
 					Autoscale:   &autoscale,
 					MinReplicas: &minReplicas,
diff --git a/test/e2e/elasticsearch_test.go b/test/e2e/elasticsearch_test.go
index 6ad61dfde..dbc484d80 100644
--- a/test/e2e/elasticsearch_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/elasticsearch_test.go
@@ -188,9 +188,6 @@ func getJaegerSimpleProdWithServerUrls(name string) *v1.Jaeger {
 	if specifyOtelImages {
 		logrus.Infof("Using OTEL collector for %s", name)
 		exampleJaeger.Spec.Collector.Image = otelCollectorImage
-	}
-
-	if specifyOtelConfig {
 		exampleJaeger.Spec.Collector.Config = v1.NewFreeForm(getOtelConfigForHealthCheckPort("14269"))
 	}
 
diff --git a/test/e2e/self_provisioned_elasticsearch_kafka_test.go b/test/e2e/self_provisioned_elasticsearch_kafka_test.go
index a18c7b5bf..a5a840e85 100644
--- a/test/e2e/self_provisioned_elasticsearch_kafka_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/self_provisioned_elasticsearch_kafka_test.go
@@ -148,11 +148,7 @@ func getJaegerSelfProvisionedESAndKafka(instanceName string) *v1.Jaeger {
 	if specifyOtelImages {
 		logrus.Infof("Using OTEL collector for %s", instanceName)
 		jaegerInstance.Spec.Collector.Image = otelCollectorImage
-	}
-
-	if specifyOtelConfig {
 		jaegerInstance.Spec.Collector.Config = v1.NewFreeForm(getOtelConfigForHealthCheckPort("14269"))
-
 	}
 
 	return jaegerInstance
diff --git a/test/e2e/self_provisioned_elasticsearch_test.go b/test/e2e/self_provisioned_elasticsearch_test.go
index cdaad69ee..0a49094dd 100644
--- a/test/e2e/self_provisioned_elasticsearch_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/self_provisioned_elasticsearch_test.go
@@ -248,9 +248,6 @@ func getJaegerSimpleProd(instanceName string) *v1.Jaeger {
 	if specifyOtelImages {
 		logrus.Infof("Using OTEL collector for %s", instanceName)
 		exampleJaeger.Spec.Collector.Image = otelCollectorImage
-	}
-
-	if specifyOtelConfig {
 		exampleJaeger.Spec.Collector.Config = v1.NewFreeForm(getOtelConfigForHealthCheckPort("14269"))
 	}
 
diff --git a/test/e2e/sidecar_test.go b/test/e2e/sidecar_test.go
index cd5a8ccb1..0f0f25029 100644
--- a/test/e2e/sidecar_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/sidecar_test.go
@@ -232,9 +232,7 @@ func createJaegerAgentAsSidecarInstance(name, namespace string) *v1.Jaeger {
 		j.Spec.AllInOne.Image = otelAllInOneImage
 		logrus.Infof("Using OTEL Agent for %s", name)
 		j.Spec.Agent.Image = otelAgentImage
-	}
 
-	if specifyOtelConfig {
 		j.Spec.AllInOne.Config = v1.NewFreeForm(getOtelConfigForHealthCheckPort("14269"))
 		j.Spec.Agent.Config = v1.NewFreeForm(getOtelConfigForHealthCheckPort("14269"))
 	}
diff --git a/test/e2e/streaming_test.go b/test/e2e/streaming_test.go
index 6017f3601..6edffb47b 100644
--- a/test/e2e/streaming_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/streaming_test.go
@@ -209,9 +209,6 @@ func jaegerStreamingDefinition(namespace string, name string) *v1.Jaeger {
 		j.Spec.Collector.Image = otelCollectorImage
 		log.Infof("Using OTEL ingester for %s", name)
 		j.Spec.Ingester.Image = otelIngesterImage
-	}
-
-	if specifyOtelConfig {
 		j.Spec.Collector.Config = v1.NewFreeForm(getOtelConfigForHealthCheckPort("14269"))
 		j.Spec.Ingester.Config = v1.NewFreeForm(getOtelConfigForHealthCheckPort("14270"))
 	}
@@ -282,9 +279,7 @@ func jaegerStreamingDefinitionWithTLS(namespace string, name, kafkaUserName stri
 		j.Spec.Collector.Image = otelCollectorImage
 		log.Infof("Using OTEL ingester for %s", name)
 		j.Spec.Ingester.Image = otelIngesterImage
-	}
 
-	if specifyOtelConfig {
 		j.Spec.Collector.Config = v1.NewFreeForm(getOtelConfigForHealthCheckPort("14269"))
 		j.Spec.Ingester.Config = v1.NewFreeForm(getOtelConfigForHealthCheckPort("14270"))
 	}
@@ -323,9 +318,7 @@ func jaegerAutoProvisionedDefinition(namespace string, name string) *v1.Jaeger {
 		jaegerInstance.Spec.Collector.Image = otelCollectorImage
 		log.Infof("Using OTEL ingester for %s", name)
 		jaegerInstance.Spec.Ingester.Image = otelIngesterImage
-	}
 
-	if specifyOtelConfig {
 		jaegerInstance.Spec.Collector.Config = v1.NewFreeForm(getOtelConfigForHealthCheckPort("14269"))
 		jaegerInstance.Spec.Ingester.Config = v1.NewFreeForm(getOtelConfigForHealthCheckPort("14270"))
 	}