diff --git a/fs/btrfs/super.c b/fs/btrfs/super.c
index 2e06f124f28494502c981380de1aa0ba4c144fdf..073c2368f45974651b98a78888028ba6078317ef 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/super.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/super.c
@@ -813,7 +813,6 @@ int btrfs_sync_fs(struct super_block *sb, int wait)
 	struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans;
 	struct btrfs_fs_info *fs_info = btrfs_sb(sb);
 	struct btrfs_root *root = fs_info->tree_root;
-	int ret;
 
 	trace_btrfs_sync_fs(wait);
 
@@ -824,11 +823,17 @@ int btrfs_sync_fs(struct super_block *sb, int wait)
 
 	btrfs_wait_ordered_extents(root, 0, 0);
 
-	trans = btrfs_start_transaction(root, 0);
+	spin_lock(&fs_info->trans_lock);
+	if (!fs_info->running_transaction) {
+		spin_unlock(&fs_info->trans_lock);
+		return 0;
+	}
+	spin_unlock(&fs_info->trans_lock);
+
+	trans = btrfs_join_transaction(root);
 	if (IS_ERR(trans))
 		return PTR_ERR(trans);
-	ret = btrfs_commit_transaction(trans, root);
-	return ret;
+	return btrfs_commit_transaction(trans, root);
 }
 
 static int btrfs_show_options(struct seq_file *seq, struct dentry *dentry)