diff --git a/test/test_helper.bats b/test/test_helper.bats
index e61f2418..034b1ac7 100644
--- a/test/test_helper.bats
+++ b/test/test_helper.bats
@@ -198,6 +198,9 @@ load 'test_helper/common'
 }
 
 @test "wait_for_empty_mail_queue_in_container fails when timeout reached" {
+    # TODO investigate why these commands fail
+    skip 'disabled as it fails randomly: https://github.com/docker-mailserver/docker-mailserver/issues/2176'
+
     local PRIVATE_CONFIG
     PRIVATE_CONFIG="$(duplicate_config_for_container .)"
     # variable not local to make visible to teardown
@@ -226,6 +229,9 @@ load 'test_helper/common'
 }
 
 @test "wait_for_empty_mail_queue_in_container succeeds within timeout" {
+    # TODO investigate why these commands fail
+    skip 'disabled as it fails randomly: https://github.com/docker-mailserver/docker-mailserver/issues/2176'
+
     local PRIVATE_CONFIG
     PRIVATE_CONFIG="$(duplicate_config_for_container .)"
     # variable not local to make visible to teardown
@@ -246,6 +252,6 @@ load 'test_helper/common'
 
     # give it some time to clear the queue
     SECONDS=0
-    wait_for_empty_mail_queue_in_container "${CONTAINER_NAME}"
+    TEST_TIMEOUT_IN_SECONDS=30 wait_for_empty_mail_queue_in_container "${CONTAINER_NAME}"
     [[ ${SECONDS} -gt 0 ]]
 }
diff --git a/test/tests.bats b/test/tests.bats
index 0eefe408..0e833175 100644
--- a/test/tests.bats
+++ b/test/tests.bats
@@ -929,8 +929,9 @@ EOF
   assert_output 1
 }
 
-
+# TODO investigate why these commands fail
 @test "checking user login: predefined user can login" {
+  skip 'disabled as it fails randomly: https://github.com/docker-mailserver/docker-mailserver/issues/2176'
   run docker exec mail /bin/bash -c "doveadm auth test -x service=smtp pass@localhost.localdomain 'may be \\a \`p^a.*ssword' | grep 'passdb'"
   assert_output "passdb: pass@localhost.localdomain auth succeeded"
 }