diff --git a/py/selenium/webdriver/remote/remote_connection.py b/py/selenium/webdriver/remote/remote_connection.py
index f66d343da5932..a37a6174d8711 100644
--- a/py/selenium/webdriver/remote/remote_connection.py
+++ b/py/selenium/webdriver/remote/remote_connection.py
@@ -162,6 +162,35 @@ def reset_timeout(cls):
         """
         cls._timeout = socket._GLOBAL_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT
 
+    @classmethod
+    def get_remote_connection_headers(cls, parsed_url, keep_alive=False):
+        """
+        Get headers for remote request.
+
+        :Args:
+         - parsed_url - The parsed url
+         - keep_alive (Boolean) - Is this a keep-alive connection (default: False)
+        """
+
+        headers = {
+            'Accept': 'application/json',
+            'Content-Type': 'application/json;charset=UTF-8',
+            'User-Agent': 'Python http auth'
+        }
+
+        if parsed_url.username:
+            base64string = base64.b64encode('{0.username}:{0.password}'.format(parsed_url).encode())
+            headers.update({
+                'Authorization': 'Basic {}'.format(base64string.decode())
+            })
+
+        if keep_alive:
+            headers.update({
+                'Connection': 'keep-alive'
+            })
+
+        return headers
+
     def __init__(self, remote_server_addr, keep_alive=False, resolve_ip=True):
         # Attempt to resolve the hostname and get an IP address.
         self.keep_alive = keep_alive
@@ -429,17 +458,9 @@ def _request(self, method, url, body=None):
         LOGGER.debug('%s %s %s' % (method, url, body))
 
         parsed_url = parse.urlparse(url)
+        headers = self.get_remote_connection_headers(parsed_url, self.keep_alive)
 
         if self.keep_alive:
-            headers = {"Connection": 'keep-alive', method: parsed_url.path,
-                       "User-Agent": "Python http auth",
-                       "Content-type": "application/json;charset=\"UTF-8\"",
-                       "Accept": "application/json"}
-            if parsed_url.username:
-                auth = base64.standard_b64encode(('%s:%s' % (
-                    parsed_url.username,
-                    parsed_url.password)).encode('ascii')).decode('ascii').replace('\n', '')
-                headers["Authorization"] = "Basic %s" % auth
             if body and method != 'POST' and method != 'PUT':
                 body = None
             try:
@@ -472,12 +493,7 @@ def _request(self, method, url, body=None):
             else:
                 request = Request(url, data=body.encode('utf-8'), method=method)
 
-            request.add_header('Accept', 'application/json')
-            request.add_header('Content-Type', 'application/json;charset=UTF-8')
-
-            if parsed_url.username:
-                base64string = base64.b64encode('{0.username}:{0.password}'.format(parsed_url).encode())
-                request.add_header('Authorization', 'Basic {}'.format(base64string).decode())
+            request.headers.update(headers)
 
             if password_manager:
                 opener = url_request.build_opener(url_request.HTTPRedirectHandler(),
diff --git a/py/test/unit/selenium/webdriver/remote/test_remote_connection.py b/py/test/unit/selenium/webdriver/remote/test_remote_connection.py
index 9d5bbb54dcfdc..ddf30da858064 100644
--- a/py/test/unit/selenium/webdriver/remote/test_remote_connection.py
+++ b/py/test/unit/selenium/webdriver/remote/test_remote_connection.py
@@ -15,21 +15,71 @@
 # specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
-import pytest
 
-from selenium.webdriver.remote.remote_connection import RemoteConnection
+try:
+    from urllib import parse
+except ImportError:  # above is available in py3+, below is py2.7
+    import urlparse as parse
 
+from selenium.webdriver.remote.remote_connection import (
+    RemoteConnection,
+)
 
-def test_basic_auth(mocker):
-    def check(request, timeout):
-        assert request.headers['Authorization'] == 'Basic dXNlcjpwYXNz'
 
+def test_get_remote_connection_headers_defaults():
+    url = 'http://remote'
+    headers = RemoteConnection.get_remote_connection_headers(parse.urlparse(url))
+    assert 'Authorization' not in headers.keys()
+    assert 'Connection' not in headers.keys()
+    assert headers.get('Accept') == 'application/json'
+    assert headers.get('Content-Type') == 'application/json;charset=UTF-8'
+    assert headers.get('User-Agent') == 'Python http auth'
+
+
+def test_get_remote_connection_headers_adds_auth_header_if_pass():
+    url = 'http://user:pass@remote'
+    headers = RemoteConnection.get_remote_connection_headers(parse.urlparse(url))
+    assert headers.get('Authorization') == 'Basic dXNlcjpwYXNz'
+
+
+def test_get_remote_connection_headers_adds_keep_alive_if_requested():
+    url = 'http://remote'
+    headers = RemoteConnection.get_remote_connection_headers(parse.urlparse(url), keep_alive=True)
+    assert headers.get('Connection') == 'keep-alive'
+
+
+class MockResponse:
+    code = 200
+    headers = []
+
+    def read(self):
+        return b"{}"
+
+    def close(self):
+        pass
+
+    def getheader(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        pass
+
+
+def test_remote_connection_adds_connection_headers_from_get_remote_connection_headers(mocker):
+    test_headers = {'FOO': 'bar'}
+
+    # Stub out the get_remote_connection_headers method to return something testable
+    mocker.patch(
+        'selenium.webdriver.remote.remote_connection.RemoteConnection.get_remote_connection_headers'
+    ).return_value = test_headers
+
+    # Stub out response
     try:
-        method = mocker.patch('urllib.request.OpenerDirector.open')
+        mock_open = mocker.patch('urllib.request.OpenerDirector.open')
     except ImportError:
-        method = mocker.patch('urllib2.OpenerDirector.open')
-    method.side_effect = check
+        mock_open = mocker.patch('urllib2.OpenerDirector.open')
+
+    def assert_header_added(request, timeout):
+        assert request.headers == test_headers
+        return MockResponse()
+
+    mock_open.side_effect = assert_header_added
 
-    with pytest.raises(AttributeError):
-        RemoteConnection('http://user:pass@remote', resolve_ip=False) \
-            .execute('status', {})
+    RemoteConnection('http://remote', resolve_ip=False).execute('status', {})