diff --git a/pywb/utils/io.py b/pywb/utils/io.py
index 1c96741a..aa55abce 100644
--- a/pywb/utils/io.py
+++ b/pywb/utils/io.py
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 import zlib
-from contextlib import closing
+from contextlib import closing, contextmanager
 
 from warcio.utils import BUFF_SIZE
 from tempfile import SpooledTemporaryFile
 
 
 #=============================================================================
-def StreamIter(stream, header1=None, header2=None, size=BUFF_SIZE):
-    with closing(stream):
+def StreamIter(stream, header1=None, header2=None, size=BUFF_SIZE, closer=closing):
+    with closer(stream):
         if header1:
             yield header1
 
@@ -21,6 +21,15 @@ def StreamIter(stream, header1=None, header2=None, size=BUFF_SIZE):
             yield buff
 
 
+#=============================================================================
+@contextmanager
+def call_release_conn(stream):
+    try:
+        yield stream
+    finally:
+        stream.release_conn()
+
+
 #=============================================================================
 def chunk_encode_iter(orig_iter):
     for chunk in orig_iter:
diff --git a/pywb/warcserver/index/indexsource.py b/pywb/warcserver/index/indexsource.py
index 8c40d665..5fc62fab 100644
--- a/pywb/warcserver/index/indexsource.py
+++ b/pywb/warcserver/index/indexsource.py
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ class BaseIndexSource(object):
             return None
 
 
-
 #=============================================================================
 class FileIndexSource(BaseIndexSource):
     CDX_EXT = ('.cdx', '.cdxj')
@@ -360,10 +359,11 @@ class MementoIndexSource(BaseIndexSource):
         try:
             headers = self._get_headers(params)
             headers['Accept-Datetime'] = accept_dt
-            res = self.sesh.head(url, headers=headers, timeout=None)
+            res = self.sesh.head(url, headers=headers)
             if res.status_code >= 400:
                 raise NotFoundException(url)
-        except:
+        except Exception as e:
+            print('FAILED:', e)
             raise NotFoundException(url)
 
         links = res.headers.get('Link')
@@ -374,7 +374,8 @@ class MementoIndexSource(BaseIndexSource):
         return links
 
     def _get_headers(self, params):
-        return {}
+        headers = {'Connection': 'close'}
+        return headers
 
     def handle_timemap(self, params):
         url = res_template(self.timemap_url, params)
@@ -469,11 +470,11 @@ class WBMementoIndexSource(MementoIndexSource):
         return ref_url
 
     def _get_headers(self, params):
+        headers = super(WBMementoIndexSource, self)._get_headers(params)
         ref_url = self._get_referrer(params)
         if ref_url:
-            return {'Referer': ref_url}
-        else:
-            return {}
+            headers['Referer'] = ref_url
+        return headers
 
     def _extract_location(self, url, location):
         if not location or not location.startswith(self.prefix):
diff --git a/pywb/warcserver/resource/responseloader.py b/pywb/warcserver/resource/responseloader.py
index c7e57ca8..9cc828e0 100644
--- a/pywb/warcserver/resource/responseloader.py
+++ b/pywb/warcserver/resource/responseloader.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ from warcio.statusandheaders import StatusAndHeaders, StatusAndHeadersParser
 from pywb.utils.wbexception import LiveResourceException, WbException
 
 from pywb.utils.memento import MementoUtils
-from pywb.utils.io import StreamIter, compress_gzip_iter
+from pywb.utils.io import StreamIter, compress_gzip_iter, call_release_conn
 from pywb.utils.format import ParamFormatter
 
 from pywb.warcserver.resource.resolvingloader import ResolvingLoader
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ class BaseLoader(object):
                 if not compress:
                     out_headers['Content-Length'] = other_headers.get('Content-Length')
 
-            return out_headers, StreamIter(stream)
+            return out_headers, StreamIter(stream, closer=call_release_conn)
 
         target_uri = warc_headers.get_header('WARC-Target-URI')
 
@@ -85,7 +85,8 @@ class BaseLoader(object):
 
         streamiter = StreamIter(stream,
                                 header1=warc_headers_buff,
-                                header2=other_headers)
+                                header2=other_headers,
+                                closer=call_release_conn)
 
         if compress:
             streamiter = compress_gzip_iter(streamiter)