diff --git a/lib/constants.js b/lib/constants.js
index 2e23b4013..04584faac 100644
--- a/lib/constants.js
+++ b/lib/constants.js
@@ -28,4 +28,4 @@ exports.CONSOLE_APPENDER = {
   }
 };
 
-exports.EXIT_CODE_0 = '\x1FEXIT0';
+exports.EXIT_CODE = '\x1FEXIT';
diff --git a/lib/runner.js b/lib/runner.js
index b65fcdc7d..d816e5a88 100644
--- a/lib/runner.js
+++ b/lib/runner.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ var constant = require('./constants');
 var helper = require('./helper');
 
 var parseExitCode = function(buffer, defaultCode) {
-  var tailPos = buffer.length - Buffer.byteLength(constant.EXIT_CODE_0);
+  var tailPos = buffer.length - Buffer.byteLength(constant.EXIT_CODE) - 1;
 
   if (tailPos < 0) {
     return defaultCode;
@@ -12,9 +12,10 @@ var parseExitCode = function(buffer, defaultCode) {
 
   // tail buffer which might contain the message
   var tail = buffer.slice(tailPos);
-  if (tail.toString() === constant.EXIT_CODE_0) {
+  var tailStr = tail.toString();
+  if (tailStr.substr(0, tailStr.length - 1) === constant.EXIT_CODE) {
     tail.fill('\x00');
-    return 0;
+    return parseInt(tailStr.substr(-1), 10);
   }
 
   return defaultCode;
diff --git a/lib/server.js b/lib/server.js
index 4ee6ed996..76362d412 100644
--- a/lib/server.js
+++ b/lib/server.js
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ var start = function(injector, config, launcher, globalEmitter, preprocess, file
       // clean up, close runner socket
       globalEmitter.once('run_complete', function(browsers, results) {
         resultReporter.removeAdapter(socketWrite);
-        socket.end(!results.exitCode && constant.EXIT_CODE_0);
+        socket.end(constant.EXIT_CODE + results.exitCode);
       });
     });
 
diff --git a/test/unit/runner.spec.coffee b/test/unit/runner.spec.coffee
index 416f05ab8..97a3ad855 100644
--- a/test/unit/runner.spec.coffee
+++ b/test/unit/runner.spec.coffee
@@ -13,14 +13,14 @@ describe 'runner', ->
   # runner.parseExitCode
   #============================================================================
   describe 'parseExitCode', ->
-    EXIT0 = constant.EXIT_CODE_0
+    EXIT = constant.EXIT_CODE
 
     it 'should return 0 exit code if present in the buffer', ->
-      expect(m.parseExitCode new Buffer 'something\nfake' + EXIT0).to.equal 0
+      expect(m.parseExitCode new Buffer 'something\nfake' + EXIT + '0').to.equal 0
 
 
     it 'should null the exit code part of the buffer', ->
-      buffer = new Buffer 'some' + EXIT0
+      buffer = new Buffer 'some' + EXIT + '1'
       m.parseExitCode buffer
 
       expect(buffer.toString()).to.equal 'some\0\0\0\0\0\0'
@@ -42,3 +42,8 @@ describe 'runner', ->
 
       code = m.parseExitCode fakeBuffer, 10
       expect(fakeBuffer.slice).not.to.have.been.called
+
+
+    it 'should parse any single digit exit code', ->
+      expect(m.parseExitCode new Buffer 'something\nfake' + EXIT + '1').to.equal 1
+      expect(m.parseExitCode new Buffer 'something\nfake' + EXIT + '7').to.equal 7