diff --git a/lib/collection.js b/lib/collection.js
index e6c365c9a13..9b5498bbfc7 100644
--- a/lib/collection.js
+++ b/lib/collection.js
@@ -311,13 +311,7 @@ Collection.prototype._getBufferTimeoutMS = function _getBufferTimeoutMS() {
   if (opts && opts.schemaUserProvidedOptions != null && opts.schemaUserProvidedOptions.bufferTimeoutMS != null) {
     return opts.schemaUserProvidedOptions.bufferTimeoutMS;
   }
-  if (conn.config.bufferTimeoutMS != null) {
-    return conn.config.bufferTimeoutMS;
-  }
-  if (conn.base != null && conn.base.get('bufferTimeoutMS') != null) {
-    return conn.base.get('bufferTimeoutMS');
-  }
-  return 10000;
+  return conn._getBufferTimeoutMS();
 };
 
 /*!
diff --git a/lib/connection.js b/lib/connection.js
index b747460083c..b0ceb77029b 100644
--- a/lib/connection.js
+++ b/lib/connection.js
@@ -824,10 +824,54 @@ Connection.prototype.dropCollection = async function dropCollection(collection)
 
 Connection.prototype._waitForConnect = async function _waitForConnect() {
   if ((this.readyState === STATES.connecting || this.readyState === STATES.disconnected) && this._shouldBufferCommands()) {
-    await new Promise(resolve => {
-      this._queue.push({ fn: resolve });
-    });
+    const bufferTimeoutMS = this._getBufferTimeoutMS();
+    let timeout = null;
+    let timedOut = false;
+    // The element that this function pushes onto `_queue`, stored to make it easy to remove later
+    const queueElement = {};
+    await Promise.race([
+      new Promise(resolve => {
+        queueElement.fn = resolve;
+        this._queue.push(queueElement);
+      }),
+      new Promise(resolve => {
+        timeout = setTimeout(
+          () => {
+            timedOut = true;
+            resolve();
+          },
+          bufferTimeoutMS
+        );
+      })
+    ]);
+
+    if (timedOut) {
+      const index = this._queue.indexOf(queueElement);
+      if (index !== -1) {
+        this._queue.splice(index, 1);
+      }
+      const message = 'Connection operation buffering timed out after ' + bufferTimeoutMS + 'ms';
+      throw new MongooseError(message);
+    } else if (timeout != null) {
+      // Not strictly necessary, but avoid the extra overhead of creating a new MongooseError
+      // in case of success
+      clearTimeout(timeout);
+    }
+  }
+};
+
+/*!
+ * Get the default buffer timeout for this connection
+ */
+
+Connection.prototype._getBufferTimeoutMS = function _getBufferTimeoutMS() {
+  if (this.config.bufferTimeoutMS != null) {
+    return this.config.bufferTimeoutMS;
   }
+  if (this.base != null && this.base.get('bufferTimeoutMS') != null) {
+    return this.base.get('bufferTimeoutMS');
+  }
+  return 10000;
 };
 
 /**
@@ -1156,6 +1200,10 @@ Connection.prototype.close = async function close(force) {
     this.$wasForceClosed = !!force;
   }
 
+  if (this._lastHeartbeatAt != null) {
+    this._lastHeartbeatAt = null;
+  }
+
   for (const model of Object.values(this.models)) {
     // If manually disconnecting, make sure to clear each model's `$init`
     // promise, so Mongoose knows to re-run `init()` in case the
diff --git a/lib/drivers/node-mongodb-native/connection.js b/lib/drivers/node-mongodb-native/connection.js
index 0659ac4e647..e96b89c9398 100644
--- a/lib/drivers/node-mongodb-native/connection.js
+++ b/lib/drivers/node-mongodb-native/connection.js
@@ -281,6 +281,11 @@ NativeConnection.prototype.createClient = async function createClient(uri, optio
       delete options.autoSearchIndex;
     }
 
+    if ('bufferTimeoutMS' in options) {
+      this.config.bufferTimeoutMS = options.bufferTimeoutMS;
+      delete options.bufferTimeoutMS;
+    }
+
     // Backwards compat
     if (options.user || options.pass) {
       options.auth = options.auth || {};
@@ -426,6 +431,9 @@ function _setClient(conn, client, options, dbName) {
       }
     });
   }
+
+  conn._lastHeartbeatAt = null;
+
   client.on('serverHeartbeatSucceeded', () => {
     conn._lastHeartbeatAt = Date.now();
   });
diff --git a/lib/model.js b/lib/model.js
index abc120182ea..404fb7cfc2e 100644
--- a/lib/model.js
+++ b/lib/model.js
@@ -64,7 +64,6 @@ const prepareDiscriminatorPipeline = require('./helpers/aggregate/prepareDiscrim
 const pushNestedArrayPaths = require('./helpers/model/pushNestedArrayPaths');
 const removeDeselectedForeignField = require('./helpers/populate/removeDeselectedForeignField');
 const setDottedPath = require('./helpers/path/setDottedPath');
-const STATES = require('./connectionState');
 const util = require('util');
 const utils = require('./utils');
 const minimize = require('./helpers/minimize');
@@ -1104,11 +1103,7 @@ Model.init = function init() {
     return results;
   };
   const _createCollection = async() => {
-    if ((conn.readyState === STATES.connecting || conn.readyState === STATES.disconnected) && conn._shouldBufferCommands()) {
-      await new Promise(resolve => {
-        conn._queue.push({ fn: resolve });
-      });
-    }
+    await conn._waitForConnect();
     const autoCreate = utils.getOption(
       'autoCreate',
       this.schema.options,
diff --git a/test/collection.test.js b/test/collection.test.js
index 755eccbe55a..7e85135a7f5 100644
--- a/test/collection.test.js
+++ b/test/collection.test.js
@@ -64,6 +64,16 @@ describe('collections:', function() {
     });
   });
 
+  it('handles bufferTimeoutMS in schemaUserProvidedOptions', async function() {
+    db = mongoose.createConnection();
+    const collection = db.collection('gh14184');
+    collection.opts.schemaUserProvidedOptions = { bufferTimeoutMS: 100 };
+
+    const err = await collection.find({ foo: 'bar' }, {}).then(() => null, err => err);
+    assert.ok(err);
+    assert.ok(err.message.includes('buffering timed out after 100ms'));
+  });
+
   it('methods should that throw (unimplemented)', function() {
     const collection = new Collection('test', mongoose.connection);
     let thrown = false;
diff --git a/test/connection.test.js b/test/connection.test.js
index d73508565fe..5e5946645f4 100644
--- a/test/connection.test.js
+++ b/test/connection.test.js
@@ -1787,6 +1787,27 @@ describe('connections:', function() {
     assert.ok(res.mongoose.results[1].message.includes('not a number'));
   });
 
+  it('buffers connection helpers', async function() {
+    const m = new mongoose.Mongoose();
+
+    const promise = m.connection.listCollections();
+
+    await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 100));
+    await m.connect(start.uri, { bufferTimeoutMS: 1000 });
+    await promise;
+
+    await m.connection.listCollections();
+
+    await m.disconnect();
+  });
+
+  it('connection helpers buffering times out', async function() {
+    const m = new mongoose.Mongoose();
+    m.set('bufferTimeoutMS', 100);
+
+    await assert.rejects(m.connection.listCollections(), /Connection operation buffering timed out after 100ms/);
+  });
+
   it('supports db-level aggregate on connection (gh-15118)', async function() {
     const db = start();