diff --git a/e2e/testcases/custom_resources_test.go b/e2e/testcases/custom_resources_test.go
index ea2ed9cf2..895ba8a0d 100644
--- a/e2e/testcases/custom_resources_test.go
+++ b/e2e/testcases/custom_resources_test.go
@@ -29,8 +29,10 @@ import (
 	"kpt.dev/configsync/e2e/nomostest/testpredicates"
 	"kpt.dev/configsync/e2e/nomostest/testwatcher"
 	"kpt.dev/configsync/pkg/api/configsync"
+	"kpt.dev/configsync/pkg/api/configsync/v1beta1"
 	"kpt.dev/configsync/pkg/core/k8sobjects"
 	"kpt.dev/configsync/pkg/kinds"
+	"kpt.dev/configsync/pkg/reconcilermanager"
 	"kpt.dev/configsync/pkg/status"
 	"kpt.dev/configsync/pkg/webhook/configuration"
 	kstatus "sigs.k8s.io/cli-utils/pkg/kstatus/status"
@@ -56,6 +58,14 @@ func TestCRDDeleteBeforeRemoveCustomResourceV1(t *testing.T) {
 		nt.T.Fatal(err)
 	}
 
+	nt.T.Log("Increase log level of reconciler to help debug failures")
+	rs := nomostest.RootSyncObjectV1Beta1FromRootRepo(nt, configsync.RootSyncName)
+	rs.Spec.SafeOverride().LogLevels = []v1beta1.ContainerLogLevelOverride{
+		{ContainerName: reconcilermanager.Reconciler, LogLevel: 5},
+	}
+	nt.Must(nt.KubeClient.Apply(rs))
+	nt.Must(nt.Watcher.WatchForCurrentStatus(kinds.RootSyncV1Beta1(), configsync.RootSyncName, configsync.ControllerNamespace))
+
 	nsObj := k8sobjects.NamespaceObject("foo")
 	nt.Must(nt.RootRepos[configsync.RootSyncName].Add("acme/namespaces/foo/ns.yaml", nsObj))
 	anvilObj := anvilCR("v1", "heavy", 10)