diff --git a/pyutilib/dev/tests/test_runtests.py b/pyutilib/dev/tests/test_runtests.py
index 8f5e9337..f91abfe3 100644
--- a/pyutilib/dev/tests/test_runtests.py
+++ b/pyutilib/dev/tests/test_runtests.py
@@ -13,13 +13,16 @@ def _run(self, args):
             del os.environ['PYUTILIB_UNITTEST_CATEGORY']
         stream_out = six.StringIO()
         pyutilib.misc.setup_redirect(stream_out)
-        runPyUtilibTests(['nosetests', '-v', '--no-xunit'] + args + 
-                         ['pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit'],
-                         use_exec=False)
+        rc = runPyUtilibTests(['nosetests', '-v', '--no-xunit'] + args +
+                              ['pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit'],
+                              use_exec=False)
         pyutilib.misc.reset_redirect()
         if oldCat is not None:
             os.environ['PYUTILIB_UNITTEST_CATEGORY'] = oldCat
 
+        if rc:
+            self.fail("running nosetests failed (rc=%s)" % (rc,))
+
         result = []
         for line in stream_out.getvalue().splitlines():
             if '...' not in line:
@@ -136,7 +139,7 @@ def test_expensive(self):
             #'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_fragile',
             #'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_fragile_smoke',
             #'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_multi',
-            'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_noCategory',
+            #'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_noCategory',
             #'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_notExpensive',
             #'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_smoke',
         ]
@@ -158,7 +161,7 @@ def test_expensive_AND_smoke(self):
             #'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_fragile',
             #'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_fragile_smoke',
             #'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_multi',
-            'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_noCategory',
+            #'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_noCategory',
             #'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_notExpensive',
             #'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_smoke',
         ]
@@ -202,7 +205,7 @@ def test_NOT_expensive(self):
             #'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_fragile',
             #'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_fragile_smoke',
             'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_multi',
-            #'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_noCategory',
+            'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_noCategory',
             'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_notExpensive',
             'pyutilib.th.tests.test_pyunit.TestNoCategory.test_smoke',
         ]
diff --git a/pyutilib/th/pyunit.py b/pyutilib/th/pyunit.py
index ce21c046..8ce23ba9 100644
--- a/pyutilib/th/pyunit.py
+++ b/pyutilib/th/pyunit.py
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ class TestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     # The default test categories are 'smoke' and 'nightly' and 'expensive'
     smoke = 1
     nightly = 1
-    expensive = 1
+    expensive = 0
     fragile = 0
     _default_categories = True
     # If someone specifies a category, these are the default values of