diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/ml/public/application/data_frame_analytics/pages/analytics_management/components/create_analytics_form/create_analytics_form.tsx b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/ml/public/application/data_frame_analytics/pages/analytics_management/components/create_analytics_form/create_analytics_form.tsx
index 6f7d77f508e299..7fa875577b574d 100644
--- a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/ml/public/application/data_frame_analytics/pages/analytics_management/components/create_analytics_form/create_analytics_form.tsx
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/ml/public/application/data_frame_analytics/pages/analytics_management/components/create_analytics_form/create_analytics_form.tsx
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ export const CreateAnalyticsForm: FC<CreateAnalyticsFormProps> = ({ actions, sta
       const jobConfig = getJobConfigFromFormState(form);
       delete jobConfig.dest;
       delete jobConfig.model_memory_limit;
-      const resp = await ml.dataFrameAnalytics.estimateDataFrameAnalyticsMemoryUsage(jobConfig);
+      const resp = await ml.dataFrameAnalytics.explainDataFrameAnalytics(jobConfig);
       setFormState({
         modelMemoryLimit: resp.memory_estimation?.expected_memory_without_disk,
       });
@@ -192,7 +192,9 @@ export const CreateAnalyticsForm: FC<CreateAnalyticsFormProps> = ({ actions, sta
   const loadFieldOptions = async () => {
     setFormState({
       loadingFieldOptions: true,
+      // clear when the source index changes
       dependentVariable: '',
+      excludes: [],
       // Reset outlier detection sourceIndex checks to default values if we've switched to regression
       sourceIndexFieldsCheckFailed: false,
       sourceIndexContainsNumericalFields: true,
diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/ml/public/application/services/ml_api_service/data_frame_analytics.js b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/ml/public/application/services/ml_api_service/data_frame_analytics.js
index 2645e0e3f9c420..6ff0b45454abf6 100644
--- a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/ml/public/application/services/ml_api_service/data_frame_analytics.js
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/ml/public/application/services/ml_api_service/data_frame_analytics.js
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ export const dataFrameAnalytics = {
       data: evaluateConfig,
     });
   },
-  estimateDataFrameAnalyticsMemoryUsage(jobConfig) {
+  explainDataFrameAnalytics(jobConfig) {
     return http({
       url: `${basePath}/data_frame/analytics/_explain`,
       method: 'POST',
diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/ml/public/application/services/ml_api_service/index.d.ts b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/ml/public/application/services/ml_api_service/index.d.ts
index ad600ad2cbd710..6f3edd64068b21 100644
--- a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/ml/public/application/services/ml_api_service/index.d.ts
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/ml/public/application/services/ml_api_service/index.d.ts
@@ -89,9 +89,7 @@ declare interface Ml {
     getDataFrameAnalyticsStats(analyticsId?: string): Promise<GetDataFrameAnalyticsStatsResponse>;
     createDataFrameAnalytics(analyticsId: string, analyticsConfig: any): Promise<any>;
     evaluateDataFrameAnalytics(evaluateConfig: any): Promise<any>;
-    estimateDataFrameAnalyticsMemoryUsage(
-      jobConfig: DeepPartial<DataFrameAnalyticsConfig>
-    ): Promise<any>;
+    explainDataFrameAnalytics(jobConfig: DeepPartial<DataFrameAnalyticsConfig>): Promise<any>;
     deleteDataFrameAnalytics(analyticsId: string): Promise<any>;
     startDataFrameAnalytics(analyticsId: string): Promise<any>;
     stopDataFrameAnalytics(
diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/ml/server/client/elasticsearch_ml.js b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/ml/server/client/elasticsearch_ml.js
index 5d38de4a6ba87c..2ca21efb0bd6ae 100644
--- a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/ml/server/client/elasticsearch_ml.js
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/ml/server/client/elasticsearch_ml.js
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ export const elasticsearchJsPlugin = (Client, config, components) => {
     method: 'POST',
   });
 
-  ml.estimateDataFrameAnalyticsMemoryUsage = ca({
+  ml.explainDataFrameAnalytics = ca({
     urls: [
       {
         fmt: '/_ml/data_frame/analytics/_explain',