diff --git a/lib/timers.js b/lib/timers.js
index 302a11e18b5624..442789439bc7c2 100644
--- a/lib/timers.js
+++ b/lib/timers.js
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ const Timeout = function(after) {
 
 function unrefdHandle() {
   this.owner._onTimeout();
-  if (!this.owner.repeat)
+  if (!this.owner._repeat)
     this.owner.close();
 }
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-timers-unrefd-interval-still-fires.js b/test/parallel/test-timers-unrefd-interval-still-fires.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..3ea94454cfdb49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-timers-unrefd-interval-still-fires.js
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+/*
+ * This test is a regression test for joyent/node#8900.
+ */
+var assert = require('assert');
+
+var N = 5;
+var nbIntervalFired = 0;
+var timer = setInterval(function() {
+  ++nbIntervalFired;
+  if (nbIntervalFired === N)
+    clearInterval(timer);
+}, 1);
+
+timer.unref();
+
+setTimeout(function onTimeout() {
+  assert.strictEqual(nbIntervalFired, N);
+}, 100);