diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/TransportOpenJobAction.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/TransportOpenJobAction.java
index 290e407ab664c..e82e53458cb32 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/TransportOpenJobAction.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/TransportOpenJobAction.java
@@ -678,10 +678,7 @@ public void validate(OpenJobAction.JobParams params, ClusterState clusterState)
             PersistentTasksCustomMetaData.Assignment assignment = selectLeastLoadedMlNode(params.getJobId(), clusterState,
                     maxConcurrentJobAllocations, fallbackMaxNumberOfOpenJobs, maxMachineMemoryPercent, logger);
             if (assignment.getExecutorNode() == null) {
-                String msg = "Could not open job because no suitable nodes were found, allocation explanation ["
-                        + assignment.getExplanation() + "]";
-                logger.warn("[{}] {}", params.getJobId(), msg);
-                throw new ElasticsearchStatusException(msg, RestStatus.TOO_MANY_REQUESTS);
+                throw makeNoSuitableNodesException(logger, params.getJobId(), assignment.getExplanation());
             }
         }
 
@@ -785,9 +782,9 @@ public boolean test(PersistentTasksCustomMetaData.PersistentTask<?> persistentTa
                 // and this is why this class must only be used when opening a job
                 if (assignment != null && assignment.equals(PersistentTasksCustomMetaData.INITIAL_ASSIGNMENT) == false &&
                         assignment.isAssigned() == false) {
+                    OpenJobAction.JobParams params = (OpenJobAction.JobParams) persistentTask.getParams();
                     // Assignment has failed on the master node despite passing our "fast fail" validation
-                    exception = new ElasticsearchStatusException("Could not open job because no suitable nodes were found, " +
-                            "allocation explanation [" + assignment.getExplanation() + "]", RestStatus.TOO_MANY_REQUESTS);
+                    exception = makeNoSuitableNodesException(logger, params.getJobId(), assignment.getExplanation());
                     // The persistent task should be cancelled so that the observed outcome is the
                     // same as if the "fast fail" validation on the coordinating node had failed
                     shouldCancel = true;
@@ -813,4 +810,12 @@ public boolean test(PersistentTasksCustomMetaData.PersistentTask<?> persistentTa
             }
         }
     }
+
+    static ElasticsearchException makeNoSuitableNodesException(Logger logger, String jobId, String explanation) {
+        String msg = "Could not open job because no suitable nodes were found, allocation explanation [" + explanation + "]";
+        logger.warn("[{}] {}", jobId, msg);
+        Exception detail = new IllegalStateException(msg);
+        return new ElasticsearchStatusException("Could not open job because no ML nodes with sufficient capacity were found",
+            RestStatus.TOO_MANY_REQUESTS, detail);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/BasicDistributedJobsIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/BasicDistributedJobsIT.java
index 9e8d17e84b44a..83facf4c1f2de 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/BasicDistributedJobsIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/BasicDistributedJobsIT.java
@@ -366,10 +366,14 @@ public void testMlIndicesNotAvailable() throws Exception {
 
         Exception e = expectThrows(ElasticsearchStatusException.class,
                 () -> client().execute(OpenJobAction.INSTANCE, openJobRequest).actionGet());
-        assertTrue(e.getMessage(),
-                e.getMessage().startsWith("Could not open job because no suitable nodes were found, allocation explanation"));
-        assertTrue(e.getMessage(), e.getMessage().endsWith("because not all primary shards are active for the following indices "
-                + "[.ml-state,.ml-anomalies-shared]]"));
+        assertEquals("Could not open job because no ML nodes with sufficient capacity were found", e.getMessage());
+        IllegalStateException detail = (IllegalStateException) e.getCause();
+        assertNotNull(detail);
+        String detailedMessage = detail.getMessage();
+        assertTrue(detailedMessage,
+            detailedMessage.startsWith("Could not open job because no suitable nodes were found, allocation explanation"));
+        assertTrue(detailedMessage, detailedMessage.endsWith("because not all primary shards are active for the following indices " +
+            "[.ml-state,.ml-anomalies-shared]]"));
 
         logger.info("Start data node");
         String nonMlNode = internalCluster().startNode(Settings.builder()
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/TooManyJobsIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/TooManyJobsIT.java
index f06b73fcd40aa..68ce5da5ca176 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/TooManyJobsIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/TooManyJobsIT.java
@@ -92,18 +92,22 @@ private void verifyMaxNumberOfJobsLimit(int numNodes, int maxNumberOfJobsPerNode
                 });
                 logger.info("Opened {}th job", i);
             } catch (ElasticsearchStatusException e) {
-                assertTrue(e.getMessage(),
-                        e.getMessage().startsWith("Could not open job because no suitable nodes were found, allocation explanation"));
+                assertEquals("Could not open job because no ML nodes with sufficient capacity were found", e.getMessage());
+                IllegalStateException detail = (IllegalStateException) e.getCause();
+                assertNotNull(detail);
+                String detailedMessage = detail.getMessage();
+                assertTrue(detailedMessage,
+                    detailedMessage.startsWith("Could not open job because no suitable nodes were found, allocation explanation"));
                 if (expectMemoryLimitBeforeCountLimit) {
                     int expectedJobsAlreadyOpenOnNode = (i - 1) / numNodes;
-                    assertTrue(e.getMessage(),
-                            e.getMessage().endsWith("because this node has insufficient available memory. Available memory for ML [" +
-                                    maxMlMemoryPerNode + "], memory required by existing jobs [" +
-                                    (expectedJobsAlreadyOpenOnNode * memoryFootprintPerJob) +
-                                    "], estimated memory required for this job [" + memoryFootprintPerJob + "]]"));
+                    assertTrue(detailedMessage,
+                        detailedMessage.endsWith("because this node has insufficient available memory. Available memory for ML [" +
+                            maxMlMemoryPerNode + "], memory required by existing jobs [" +
+                            (expectedJobsAlreadyOpenOnNode * memoryFootprintPerJob) + "], estimated memory required for this job [" +
+                            memoryFootprintPerJob + "]]"));
                 } else {
-                    assertTrue(e.getMessage(), e.getMessage().endsWith("because this node is full. Number of opened jobs [" +
-                            maxNumberOfJobsPerNode + "], xpack.ml.max_open_jobs [" + maxNumberOfJobsPerNode + "]]"));
+                    assertTrue(detailedMessage, detailedMessage.endsWith("because this node is full. Number of opened jobs [" +
+                        maxNumberOfJobsPerNode + "], xpack.ml.max_open_jobs [" + maxNumberOfJobsPerNode + "]]"));
                 }
                 logger.info("good news everybody --> reached maximum number of allowed opened jobs, after trying to open the {}th job", i);