diff --git a/src/runtime/nodes/mqtt_shared.rs b/src/runtime/nodes/mqtt_shared.rs
index 1ec1ff6..355ea34 100644
--- a/src/runtime/nodes/mqtt_shared.rs
+++ b/src/runtime/nodes/mqtt_shared.rs
@@ -230,8 +230,15 @@ impl Shared {
             }
         };
         if teardown {
-            self.close.publish(self.client.as_ref()).await;
-            self.client.disconnect().await;
+            // Best-effort graceful close, time-bounded: if the broker is
+            // unreachable the client's request queue can be full, making
+            // `disconnect()` block — never let that stall teardown.
+            let _ = tokio::time::timeout(Duration::from_millis(500), async {
+                self.close.publish(self.client.as_ref()).await;
+                self.client.disconnect().await;
+            })
+            .await;
+            // Always stop the driver so it can no longer reconnect or emit errors.
             if let Some(handle) = self.driver.lock().unwrap().take() {
                 handle.abort();
             }