# Traefik can't connect to Kubernetes service (504 Gateway timeout)

**URL:** <https://community.traefik.io/t/traefik-cant-connect-to-kubernetes-service-504-gateway-timeout/29816>\
**Category:** Traefik v3 (latest)\
**Tags:** kubernetes-ingress\
**Created:** [April 8, 2026, 10:27pm UTC](https://community.traefik.io/t/traefik-cant-connect-to-kubernetes-service-504-gateway-timeout/29816 "2026-04-08T22:27:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vb.pfs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7cd45c/32.png) [@vb.pfs](https://community.traefik.io/u/vb.pfs)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2026, 10:27pm UTC](https://community.traefik.io/t/traefik-cant-connect-to-kubernetes-service-504-gateway-timeout/29816/1 "2026-04-08T22:27:13Z")

</div>

I’m having trouble connecting to my backend service via the Traefik ingress class.

I have a backend pod with service running. I’ve connected the Ingress resource to it

```auto
k get pods,svc -n app
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
pod/app-ria-64cc85c68b-l7244 1/1 Running 0 14m

NAME TYPE CLUSTER-IP EXTERNAL-IP PORT(S) AGE
service/app-ria ClusterIP 172.26.81.232 <none> 8080/TCP 13d

```

With the following ingress spec

```auto
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: app-ria
  namespace: app
spec:
  ingressClassName: traefik
  rules:
  - host: app
    http:
      paths:
      - backend:
          service:
            name: app-ria
            port:
              number: 8080
        path: /
        pathType: Prefix
  - host: app.subdomain.mycompany.tld
    http:
      paths:
      - backend:
          service:
            name: app-ria
            port:
              number: 8080
        path: /
        pathType: Prefix
  tls:
  - hosts:
    - app
    - app.subdomain.mycompany.tld
    secretName: ingress-secret

```

Connecting to one of my hostnames yields a 504 (on every path). With below debug log:

```auto
│
│ 2026-04-08T11:24:56Z DBG github.com/traefik/traefik/v3/pkg/tls/tlsmanager.go:288 > Serving default certificate for request: "" │
│ 2026-04-08T11:24:56Z DBG github.com/traefik/traefik/v3/pkg/server/service/loadbalancer/wrr/wrr.go:251 > Service selected by WRR: http://172.25.4.205:8080 │
│ 2026-04-08T11:25:02Z DBG github.com/traefik/traefik/v3/pkg/provider/kubernetes/crd/kubernetes.go:130 > Skipping Kubernetes event kind *v1.ConfigMap providerName=kubernetescrd │
│ 2026-04-08T11:25:17Z DBG github.com/traefik/traefik/v3/pkg/provider/kubernetes/crd/kubernetes.go:130 > Skipping Kubernetes event kind *v1.ConfigMap providerName=kubernetescrd │
│ 2026-04-08T11:25:26Z DBG github.com/traefik/traefik/v3/pkg/proxy/httputil/proxy.go:121 > 504 Gateway Timeout error="dial tcp 172.25.4.205:8080: i/o timeout" │
│ 10.42.229.201 - - [08/Apr/2026:11:24:56 +0000] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 504 15 "-" "-" 9 "websecure-app-app-ria-app.subdomain.mycompany.tld@kubernetes" "http://172.25.4.205:8080" 30001ms  

```

I’m not sure what’s going wrong here. Port-forwarding my app’s svc to a local port works just fine, using NGINX as the ingress class also works fine.

I’ve already tried to use Traefik with the NGINX annotations (`providers.kubernetesIngressNginx`) but to no avail.

These are the NGINX annotations we use in production

```auto
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  annotations:
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/affinity: cookie
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/affinity-canary-behavior: sticky
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/affinity-mode: persistent
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/app-root: /path/
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-body-size: 100m
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-connect-timeout: "6000"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-read-timeout: "6000"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-send-timeout: "6000"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/rewrite-target: /
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/session-cookie-max-age: "43200"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/session-cookie-secure: "true"

```

Does anyone know if Traefik modifies my request to the backend by default?