diff --git a/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py b/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py
index d79479556c9..ac14c02c250 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py
@@ -587,13 +587,13 @@ class TaskExecutor:
             # have issues which result in a half-written/unparseable result
             # file on disk, which manifests to the user as a timeout happening
             # before it's time to timeout.
-            if int(async_result.get('finished', 0)) == 1 or ('failed' in async_result and async_result.get('parsed', False)) or 'skipped' in async_result:
+            if int(async_result.get('finished', 0)) == 1 or ('failed' in async_result and async_result.get('_ansible_parsed', False)) or 'skipped' in async_result:
                 break
 
             time_left -= self._task.poll
 
         if int(async_result.get('finished', 0)) != 1:
-            if async_result.get('parsed'):
+            if async_result.get('_ansible_parsed'):
                 return dict(failed=True, msg="async task did not complete within the requested time")
             else:
                 return dict(failed=True, msg="async task produced unparseable results", async_result=async_result)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
index 080488bb555..5231ac62cc2 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
@@ -663,9 +663,10 @@ class ActionBase(with_metaclass(ABCMeta, object)):
     def _parse_returned_data(self, res):
         try:
             data = json.loads(self._filter_non_json_lines(res.get('stdout', u'')))
+            data['_ansible_parsed'] = True
         except ValueError:
             # not valid json, lets try to capture error
-            data = dict(failed=True, parsed=False)
+            data = dict(failed=True, _ansible_parsed=False)
             data['msg'] = "MODULE FAILURE"
             data['module_stdout'] = res.get('stdout', u'')
             if 'stderr' in res: