diff --git a/Cake/ORM/Table.php b/Cake/ORM/Table.php
index c0dff2899a3..744420d2810 100644
--- a/Cake/ORM/Table.php
+++ b/Cake/ORM/Table.php
@@ -775,7 +775,19 @@ protected function _insert($entity, $data) {
 	}
 
 	protected function _update($entity, $data) {
+		$query = $this->_buildQuery();
+		$primaryKey = $entity->extract((array)$this->primaryKey());
+		$statement = $query->update($this->table())
+			->set($data)
+			->where($primaryKey)
+			->executeStatement();
 
+		$success = false;
+		if ($statement->rowCount() > 0) {
+			$entity->clean();
+			$success = $entity;
+		}
+		return $success;
 	}
 
 /**
diff --git a/Cake/Test/TestCase/ORM/TableTest.php b/Cake/Test/TestCase/ORM/TableTest.php
index 1e59fe6dcc8..d2bec2a0b1f 100644
--- a/Cake/Test/TestCase/ORM/TableTest.php
+++ b/Cake/Test/TestCase/ORM/TableTest.php
@@ -1342,4 +1342,26 @@ public function testsASavedEntityIsNotNew() {
 		$this->assertFalse($entity->isNew());
 	}
 
+/**
+ * Tests that save can detect automatically if it needs to insert
+ * or update a row
+ *
+ * @return void
+ */
+	public function testSaveUpdateAuto() {
+		$entity = new \Cake\ORM\Entity([
+			'id' => 2,
+			'username' => 'baggins'
+		]);
+		$table = TableRegistry::get('users');
+		$original = $table->find('all')->where(['id' => 2])->first();
+		$this->assertSame($entity, $table->save($entity));
+		$row = $table->find('all')->where(['id' => 2])->first();
+		$this->assertEquals('baggins', $row->username);
+		$this->assertEquals($original->password, $row->password);
+		$this->assertEquals($original->created, $row->created);
+		$this->assertEquals($original->updated, $row->updated);
+	}
+
+
 }