diff --git a/auth/src/main/java/io/grpc/auth/ClientAuthInterceptor.java b/auth/src/main/java/io/grpc/auth/ClientAuthInterceptor.java
index b64cc0d77a..6f7574d046 100644
--- a/auth/src/main/java/io/grpc/auth/ClientAuthInterceptor.java
+++ b/auth/src/main/java/io/grpc/auth/ClientAuthInterceptor.java
@@ -41,7 +41,9 @@ import io.grpc.ClientInterceptor;
 import io.grpc.ClientInterceptors.CheckedForwardingClientCall;
 import io.grpc.Metadata;
 import io.grpc.MethodDescriptor;
+import io.grpc.Status;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executor;
@@ -82,8 +84,8 @@ public class ClientAuthInterceptor implements ClientInterceptor {
           // metadata map until the next refresh cycle. This will be fixed once
           // https://github.com/google/google-auth-library-java/issues/3
           // is resolved.
-          if (lastMetadata == null || lastMetadata != credentials.getRequestMetadata()) {
-            lastMetadata = credentials.getRequestMetadata();
+          if (lastMetadata == null || lastMetadata != getRequestMetadata()) {
+            lastMetadata = getRequestMetadata();
             cached = toHeaders(lastMetadata);
           }
           cachedSaved = cached;
@@ -94,6 +96,14 @@ public class ClientAuthInterceptor implements ClientInterceptor {
     };
   }
 
+  private Map<String, List<String>> getRequestMetadata() {
+    try {
+      return credentials.getRequestMetadata();
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      throw Status.UNAUTHENTICATED.withCause(e).asRuntimeException();
+    }
+  }
+
   private static final Metadata.Headers toHeaders(Map<String, List<String>> metadata) {
     Metadata.Headers headers = new Metadata.Headers();
     if (metadata != null) {
diff --git a/auth/src/test/java/io/grpc/auth/ClientAuthInterceptorTests.java b/auth/src/test/java/io/grpc/auth/ClientAuthInterceptorTests.java
index 42f3ac8434..f1daabe363 100644
--- a/auth/src/test/java/io/grpc/auth/ClientAuthInterceptorTests.java
+++ b/auth/src/test/java/io/grpc/auth/ClientAuthInterceptorTests.java
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ public class ClientAuthInterceptorTests {
     Mockito.verify(listener).onClose(statusCaptor.capture(), isA(Metadata.Trailers.class));
     Assert.assertNull(headers.getAll(AUTHORIZATION));
     Mockito.verify(call, never()).start(listener, headers);
-    Assert.assertEquals(Status.Code.UNKNOWN, statusCaptor.getValue().getCode());
+    Assert.assertEquals(Status.Code.UNAUTHENTICATED, statusCaptor.getValue().getCode());
     Assert.assertNotNull(statusCaptor.getValue().getCause());
   }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/Http2ClientStream.java b/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/Http2ClientStream.java
index 774bdb89ab..2114339b5c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/Http2ClientStream.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/Http2ClientStream.java
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ public abstract class Http2ClientStream extends AbstractClientStream<Integer> {
     if (status == null) {
       status = statusFromHttpStatus(trailers);
       if (status == null || status.isOk()) {
-        status = Status.INTERNAL.withDescription("missing GRPC status in response");
+        status = Status.UNKNOWN.withDescription("missing GRPC status in response");
       } else {
         status = status.withDescription(
             "missing GRPC status, inferred error from HTTP status code");
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/MessageDeframer.java b/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/MessageDeframer.java
index aeb2f66130..b0c8bf5fcd 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/MessageDeframer.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/MessageDeframer.java
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.util.zip.GZIPInputStream;
+import java.util.zip.ZipException;
 
 import javax.annotation.concurrent.NotThreadSafe;
 
@@ -352,11 +353,14 @@ public class MessageDeframer implements Closeable {
     }
 
     if (compression != Compression.GZIP) {
-      throw new AssertionError("Unknown compression type");
+      throw Status.INVALID_ARGUMENT.withDescription("Unknown compression type")
+          .asRuntimeException();
     }
 
     try {
       return new GZIPInputStream(ReadableBuffers.openStream(nextFrame, true));
+    } catch (ZipException e) {
+      throw Status.INTERNAL.withDescription("Decompression failed").asRuntimeException();
     } catch (IOException e) {
       throw new RuntimeException(e);
     }
diff --git a/okhttp/src/main/java/io/grpc/okhttp/OkHttpClientTransport.java b/okhttp/src/main/java/io/grpc/okhttp/OkHttpClientTransport.java
index e340b45558..4c64d88db3 100644
--- a/okhttp/src/main/java/io/grpc/okhttp/OkHttpClientTransport.java
+++ b/okhttp/src/main/java/io/grpc/okhttp/OkHttpClientTransport.java
@@ -437,7 +437,7 @@ class OkHttpClientTransport implements ClientTransport {
    */
   void onIoException(IOException failureCause) {
     log.log(Level.SEVERE, "Transport failed", failureCause);
-    onGoAway(0, Status.INTERNAL.withCause(failureCause));
+    onGoAway(0, Status.UNAVAILABLE.withCause(failureCause));
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/okhttp/src/test/java/io/grpc/okhttp/OkHttpClientTransportTest.java b/okhttp/src/test/java/io/grpc/okhttp/OkHttpClientTransportTest.java
index 85fa6715fa..53889800cc 100644
--- a/okhttp/src/test/java/io/grpc/okhttp/OkHttpClientTransportTest.java
+++ b/okhttp/src/test/java/io/grpc/okhttp/OkHttpClientTransportTest.java
@@ -1058,7 +1058,7 @@ public class OkHttpClientTransportTest {
     // ping failed on error
     assertEquals(1, callback.invocationCount);
     assertTrue(callback.failureCause instanceof StatusException);
-    assertEquals(Status.Code.INTERNAL,
+    assertEquals(Status.Code.UNAVAILABLE,
         ((StatusException) callback.failureCause).getStatus().getCode());
 
     // now that handler is in terminal state, all future pings fail immediately
@@ -1066,7 +1066,7 @@ public class OkHttpClientTransportTest {
     clientTransport.ping(callback, MoreExecutors.directExecutor());
     assertEquals(1, callback.invocationCount);
     assertTrue(callback.failureCause instanceof StatusException);
-    assertEquals(Status.Code.INTERNAL,
+    assertEquals(Status.Code.UNAVAILABLE,
         ((StatusException) callback.failureCause).getStatus().getCode());
   }