diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/utils/maintenanced.c b/src/backend/distributed/utils/maintenanced.c
index 4b943c18c..e2393effc 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/utils/maintenanced.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/utils/maintenanced.c
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@
 #include "pgstat.h"
 
 #include "access/xact.h"
+#include "catalog/pg_extension.h"
+#include "commands/extension.h"
 #include "libpq/pqsignal.h"
 #include "distributed/distributed_deadlock_detection.h"
 #include "distributed/maintenanced.h"
@@ -29,6 +31,7 @@
 #include "storage/ipc.h"
 #include "storage/proc.h"
 #include "storage/latch.h"
+#include "storage/lmgr.h"
 #include "storage/lwlock.h"
 #include "tcop/tcopprot.h"
 
@@ -85,6 +88,8 @@ static void MaintenanceDaemonSigHupHandler(SIGNAL_ARGS);
 static size_t MaintenanceDaemonShmemSize(void);
 static void MaintenanceDaemonShmemInit(void);
 static void MaintenanceDaemonErrorContext(void *arg);
+static bool LockCitusExtension(void);
+
 
 /*
  * InitializeMaintenanceDaemon, called at server start, is responsible for
@@ -261,6 +266,15 @@ CitusMaintenanceDaemonMain(Datum main_arg)
 
 		CHECK_FOR_INTERRUPTS();
 
+		/*
+		 * XXX: We clear the metadata cache before every iteration because otherwise
+		 * it might contain stale OIDs. It appears that in some cases invalidation
+		 * messages for a DROP EXTENSION may arrive during deadlock detection and
+		 * this causes us to cache a stale pg_dist_node OID. We'd actually expect
+		 * all invalidations to arrive after obtaining a lock in LockCitusExtension.
+		 */
+		ClearMetadataOIDCache();
+
 		/*
 		 * Perform Work.  If a specific task needs to be called sooner than
 		 * timeout indicates, it's ok to lower it to that value.  Expensive
@@ -272,11 +286,12 @@ CitusMaintenanceDaemonMain(Datum main_arg)
 		{
 			StartTransactionCommand();
 
-			/*
-			 * We don't want to run the deadlock checks if there exists
-			 * any version mistmatch.
-			 */
-			if (CheckCitusVersion(DEBUG1))
+			if (!LockCitusExtension())
+			{
+				ereport(DEBUG1, (errmsg("could not lock the citus extension, "
+										"skipping deadlock detection")));
+			}
+			else if (CheckCitusVersion(DEBUG1) && CitusHasBeenLoaded())
 			{
 				foundDeadlock = CheckForDistributedDeadlocks();
 			}
@@ -472,3 +487,35 @@ MaintenanceDaemonErrorContext(void *arg)
 	errcontext("Citus maintenance daemon for database %u user %u",
 			   myDbData->databaseOid, myDbData->userOid);
 }
+
+
+/*
+ * LockCitusExtension acquires a lock on the Citus extension or returns
+ * false if the extension does not exist or is being dropped.
+ */
+static bool
+LockCitusExtension(void)
+{
+	Oid recheckExtensionOid = InvalidOid;
+
+	Oid extensionOid = get_extension_oid("citus", true);
+	if (extensionOid == InvalidOid)
+	{
+		/* citus extension does not exist */
+		return false;
+	}
+
+	LockDatabaseObject(ExtensionRelationId, extensionOid, 0, AccessShareLock);
+
+	/*
+	 * The extension may have been dropped and possibly recreated prior to
+	 * obtaining a lock. Check whether we still get the expected OID.
+	 */
+	recheckExtensionOid = get_extension_oid("citus", true);
+	if (recheckExtensionOid != extensionOid)
+	{
+		return false;
+	}
+
+	return true;
+}
diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/utils/metadata_cache.c b/src/backend/distributed/utils/metadata_cache.c
index f02e4e4c8..31aab8023 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/utils/metadata_cache.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/utils/metadata_cache.c
@@ -2694,11 +2694,21 @@ InvalidateDistRelationCacheCallback(Datum argument, Oid relationId)
 	 */
 	if (relationId != InvalidOid && relationId == MetadataCache.distPartitionRelationId)
 	{
-		memset(&MetadataCache, 0, sizeof(MetadataCache));
+		ClearMetadataOIDCache();
 	}
 }
 
 
+/*
+ * ClearMetadataOIDCache resets all the cached OIDs and the extensionLoaded flag.
+ */
+void
+ClearMetadataOIDCache(void)
+{
+	memset(&MetadataCache, 0, sizeof(MetadataCache));
+}
+
+
 /*
  * DistTableOidList iterates over the pg_dist_partition table and returns
  * a list that consists of the logicalrelids.
diff --git a/src/include/distributed/metadata_cache.h b/src/include/distributed/metadata_cache.h
index 95f1d4fd7..464214a56 100644
--- a/src/include/distributed/metadata_cache.h
+++ b/src/include/distributed/metadata_cache.h
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ extern List * DistTableOidList(void);
 extern List * ShardPlacementList(uint64 shardId);
 extern void CitusInvalidateRelcacheByRelid(Oid relationId);
 extern void CitusInvalidateRelcacheByShardId(int64 shardId);
+extern void ClearMetadataOIDCache(void);
 
 extern bool CitusHasBeenLoaded(void);
 extern bool CheckCitusVersion(int elevel);