diff --git a/cloud/services/volumes.go b/cloud/services/volumes.go
index e8a120d69..b0654f740 100644
--- a/cloud/services/volumes.go
+++ b/cloud/services/volumes.go
@@ -13,7 +13,10 @@ import (
 	"github.com/linode/cluster-api-provider-linode/util"
 )
 
-const defaultEtcdSizeGB = 10
+const (
+	defaultEtcdSizeGB                 = 10
+	defaultVolumeDetachTimeoutSeconds = 10
+)
 
 // CreateEtcdVolume creates an etcd Volume for a given linode instance ID
 func CreateEtcdVolume(ctx context.Context,
@@ -58,6 +61,21 @@ func DeleteEtcdVolume(ctx context.Context,
 			return err
 		}
 	}
+
+	// need to wait for volume to actually detach before we can proceed with
+	// deleting it
+	if _, err := machineScope.LinodeClient.WaitForVolumeLinodeID(
+		ctx,
+		volumeID,
+		nil,
+		defaultVolumeDetachTimeoutSeconds,
+	); err != nil {
+		logger.Error(err, "Timed out waiting for volume to detach")
+
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// now that the volume is detached it can be properly deleted
 	if err := machineScope.LinodeClient.DeleteVolume(ctx, volumeID); err != nil {
 		if util.IgnoreLinodeAPIError(err, http.StatusNotFound) != nil {
 			logger.Error(err, "Failed to delete volume")