diff --git a/tests/cluster/tests/03-failover-loop.tcl b/tests/cluster/tests/03-failover-loop.tcl
index 5c84b2604..46c22a913 100644
--- a/tests/cluster/tests/03-failover-loop.tcl
+++ b/tests/cluster/tests/03-failover-loop.tcl
@@ -61,7 +61,9 @@ while {[incr iterations -1]} {
         }
     }
 
-    test "Killing node #$tokill" {
+    test "Terminating node #$tokill" {
+        # Stop AOF so that an initial AOFRW won't prevent the instance from terminating
+        R $tokill config set appendonly no
         kill_instance redis $tokill
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/cluster/tests/04-resharding.tcl b/tests/cluster/tests/04-resharding.tcl
index 4d31d314c..18a26bda6 100644
--- a/tests/cluster/tests/04-resharding.tcl
+++ b/tests/cluster/tests/04-resharding.tcl
@@ -137,8 +137,10 @@ test "Verify $numkeys keys for consistency with logical content" {
     }
 }
 
-test "Crash and restart all the instances" {
+test "Terminate and restart all the instances" {
     foreach_redis_id id {
+        # Stop AOF so that an initial AOFRW won't prevent the instance from terminating
+        R $id config set appendonly no
         kill_instance redis $id
         restart_instance redis $id
     }
@@ -148,7 +150,7 @@ test "Cluster should eventually be up again" {
     assert_cluster_state ok
 }
 
-test "Verify $numkeys keys after the crash & restart" {
+test "Verify $numkeys keys after the restart" {
     # Check that the Redis Cluster content matches our logical content.
     foreach {key value} [array get content] {
         if {[$cluster lrange $key 0 -1] ne $value} {
diff --git a/tests/cluster/tests/14-consistency-check.tcl b/tests/cluster/tests/14-consistency-check.tcl
index d182693d8..98a49dbcd 100644
--- a/tests/cluster/tests/14-consistency-check.tcl
+++ b/tests/cluster/tests/14-consistency-check.tcl
@@ -77,9 +77,10 @@ proc test_slave_load_expired_keys {aof} {
             # we need to wait for the initial AOFRW to be done, otherwise
             # kill_instance (which now uses SIGTERM will fail ("Writing initial AOF, can't exit")
             wait_for_condition 100 10 {
+                [RI $replica_id aof_rewrite_scheduled] eq 0 &&
                 [RI $replica_id aof_rewrite_in_progress] eq 0
             } else {
-                fail "keys didn't expire"
+                fail "AOFRW didn't finish"
             }
         } else {
             R $replica_id save
diff --git a/tests/instances.tcl b/tests/instances.tcl
index 5f57b9ded..12c3ad974 100644
--- a/tests/instances.tcl
+++ b/tests/instances.tcl
@@ -204,10 +204,10 @@ proc stop_instance pid {
         incr wait 10
 
         if {$wait == $max_wait} {
-            puts "Forcing process $pid to crash..."
+            puts [colorstr red "Forcing process $pid to crash..."]
             catch {exec kill -SEGV $pid}
         } elseif {$wait >= $max_wait * 2} {
-            puts "Forcing process $pid to exit..."
+            puts [colorstr red "Forcing process $pid to exit..."]
             catch {exec kill -KILL $pid}
         } elseif {$wait % 1000 == 0} {
             puts "Waiting for process $pid to exit..."
@@ -376,10 +376,10 @@ proc test {descr code} {
     if {[catch {set retval [uplevel 1 $code]} error]} {
         incr ::failed
         if {[string match "assertion:*" $error]} {
-            set msg [string range $error 10 end]
+            set msg "FAILED: [string range $error 10 end]"
             puts [colorstr red $msg]
             if {$::pause_on_error} pause_on_error
-            puts "(Jumping to next unit after error)"
+            puts [colorstr red "(Jumping to next unit after error)"]
             return -code continue
         } else {
             # Re-raise, let handler up the stack take care of this.
@@ -451,10 +451,10 @@ proc run_tests {} {
 # Print a message and exists with 0 / 1 according to zero or more failures.
 proc end_tests {} {
     if {$::failed == 0 } {
-        puts "GOOD! No errors."
+        puts [colorstr green "GOOD! No errors."]
         exit 0
     } else {
-        puts "WARNING $::failed test(s) failed."
+        puts [colorstr red "WARNING $::failed test(s) failed."]
         exit 1
     }
 }
@@ -583,7 +583,7 @@ proc get_instance_id_by_port {type port} {
     fail "Instance $type port $port not found."
 }
 
-# Kill an instance of the specified type/id with SIGTERM.
+# Kill an instance of the specified type/id with SIGKILL.
 # This function will mark the instance PID as -1 to remember that this instance
 # is no longer running and will remove its PID from the list of pids that
 # we kill at cleanup.
@@ -597,9 +597,6 @@ proc kill_instance {type id} {
         error "You tried to kill $type $id twice."
     }
 
-    # stop appendonly so that the instance won't refuse to go down
-    R $id config set appendonly no
-
     stop_instance $pid
     set_instance_attrib $type $id pid -1
     set_instance_attrib $type $id link you_tried_to_talk_with_killed_instance