diff --git a/api/handler/http/http.go b/api/handler/http/http.go
index 5accfab3..7de8b518 100644
--- a/api/handler/http/http.go
+++ b/api/handler/http/http.go
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ type httpHandler struct {
 func (h *httpHandler) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	service, err := h.getService(r)
 	if err != nil {
-		w.WriteHeader(500)
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
 		return
 	}
 
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ func (h *httpHandler) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 
 	rp, err := url.Parse(service)
 	if err != nil {
-		w.WriteHeader(500)
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
 		return
 	}
 
diff --git a/api/handler/rpc/rpc.go b/api/handler/rpc/rpc.go
index 17c4b37e..0ab59c70 100644
--- a/api/handler/rpc/rpc.go
+++ b/api/handler/rpc/rpc.go
@@ -428,11 +428,11 @@ func writeError(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, err error) {
 	switch ce.Code {
 	case 0:
 		// assuming it's totally screwed
-		ce.Code = 500
+		ce.Code = http.StatusInternalServerError
 		ce.Id = "go.micro.api"
-		ce.Status = http.StatusText(500)
+		ce.Status = http.StatusText(http.StatusInternalServerError)
 		ce.Detail = "error during request: " + ce.Detail
-		w.WriteHeader(500)
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
 	default:
 		w.WriteHeader(int(ce.Code))
 	}
diff --git a/broker/http/http.go b/broker/http/http.go
index 2b59de5b..052e8fbe 100644
--- a/broker/http/http.go
+++ b/broker/http/http.go
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ func (h *httpBroker) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 	b, err := ioutil.ReadAll(req.Body)
 	if err != nil {
 		errr := merr.InternalServerError("go.micro.broker", "Error reading request body: %v", err)
-		w.WriteHeader(500)
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
 		w.Write([]byte(errr.Error()))
 		return
 	}
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ func (h *httpBroker) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 	var msg *broker.Message
 	if err = h.opts.Codec.Unmarshal(b, &msg); err != nil {
 		errr := merr.InternalServerError("go.micro.broker", "Error parsing request body: %v", err)
-		w.WriteHeader(500)
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
 		w.Write([]byte(errr.Error()))
 		return
 	}
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ func (h *httpBroker) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 
 	if len(topic) == 0 {
 		errr := merr.InternalServerError("go.micro.broker", "Topic not found")
-		w.WriteHeader(500)
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
 		w.Write([]byte(errr.Error()))
 		return
 	}
diff --git a/client/retry.go b/client/retry.go
index e23dc1aa..217a50e8 100644
--- a/client/retry.go
+++ b/client/retry.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package client
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"net/http"
 
 	"github.com/micro/go-micro/v3/errors"
 )
@@ -27,7 +28,7 @@ func RetryOnError(ctx context.Context, req Request, retryCount int, err error) (
 
 	switch e.Code {
 	// retry on timeout or internal server error
-	case 408, 500:
+	case http.StatusRequestTimeout, http.StatusInternalServerError:
 		return true, nil
 	default:
 		return false, nil
diff --git a/network/transport/http/http.go b/network/transport/http/http.go
index ec7b520c..1686ead3 100644
--- a/network/transport/http/http.go
+++ b/network/transport/http/http.go
@@ -346,7 +346,7 @@ func (h *httpTransportSocket) error(m *transport.Message) error {
 			Header:        make(http.Header),
 			Body:          ioutil.NopCloser(bytes.NewReader(m.Body)),
 			Status:        "500 Internal Server Error",
-			StatusCode:    500,
+			StatusCode:    http.StatusInternalServerError,
 			Proto:         "HTTP/1.1",
 			ProtoMajor:    1,
 			ProtoMinor:    1,
diff --git a/util/http/http.go b/util/http/http.go
index 9b80c899..1cf0cfbc 100644
--- a/util/http/http.go
+++ b/util/http/http.go
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ func WriteBadRequestError(w http.ResponseWriter, err error) {
 		WriteInternalServerError(w, err)
 		return
 	}
-	Write(w, "application/json", 400, string(rawBody))
+	Write(w, "application/json", http.StatusBadRequest, string(rawBody))
 }
 
 // WriteInternalServerError sets a 500 status code