diff --git a/src/plots/cartesian/tick_value_defaults.js b/src/plots/cartesian/tick_value_defaults.js
index 8f662757140..62268bf01c2 100644
--- a/src/plots/cartesian/tick_value_defaults.js
+++ b/src/plots/cartesian/tick_value_defaults.js
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 'use strict';
 
 var cleanTicks = require('./clean_ticks');
+var isArrayOrTypedArray = require('../../lib').isArrayOrTypedArray;
 
 module.exports = function handleTickValueDefaults(containerIn, containerOut, coerce, axType) {
     function readInput(attr) {
@@ -21,18 +22,11 @@ module.exports = function handleTickValueDefaults(containerIn, containerOut, coe
     var _tick0 = readInput('tick0');
     var _dtick = readInput('dtick');
     var _tickvals = readInput('tickvals');
-    var _tickmode = readInput('tickmode');
-    var tickmode;
 
-    if(_tickmode === 'array' &&
-            (axType === 'log' || axType === 'date')) {
-        tickmode = containerOut.tickmode = 'auto';
-    } else {
-        var tickmodeDefault = Array.isArray(_tickvals) ? 'array' :
-            _dtick ? 'linear' :
-            'auto';
-        tickmode = coerce('tickmode', tickmodeDefault);
-    }
+    var tickmodeDefault = isArrayOrTypedArray(_tickvals) ? 'array' :
+        _dtick ? 'linear' :
+        'auto';
+    var tickmode = coerce('tickmode', tickmodeDefault);
 
     if(tickmode === 'auto') coerce('nticks');
     else if(tickmode === 'linear') {
diff --git a/test/image/baselines/axes_custom-ticks_log-date.png b/test/image/baselines/axes_custom-ticks_log-date.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b52373b8516
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/image/baselines/axes_custom-ticks_log-date.png differ
diff --git a/test/image/mocks/axes_custom-ticks_log-date.json b/test/image/mocks/axes_custom-ticks_log-date.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..261015f32d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/image/mocks/axes_custom-ticks_log-date.json
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+{
+    "data": [{
+        "type": "scatter",
+        "x": [
+            "2010-01-01",
+            "2010-02-01",
+            "2010-03-01"
+        ],
+        "y": [
+            1,
+            100,
+            10
+        ]
+    }],
+    "layout": {
+        "width": 500,
+        "height": 300,
+        "title": {
+            "text": "custom ticks on date & log axes"
+        },
+        "paper_bgcolor": "lightblue",
+        "plot_bgcolor": "#ddd",
+        "yaxis": {
+            "type": "log",
+            "tickmode": "array",
+            "tickvals": [
+                1,
+                10,
+                100
+            ],
+            "ticktext": [
+                "one",
+                "ten",
+                "one<br>hundred"
+            ],
+            "gridwidth": 2,
+            "tickwidth": 15,
+            "tickcolor": "green",
+            "gridcolor": "green"
+        },
+        "xaxis": {
+            "type": "date",
+            "tickmode": "array",
+            "tickvals": [
+                "2010-01-16",
+                "2010-02-14"
+            ],
+            "ticktext": [
+                "Jan 16",
+                "Feb 14"
+            ],
+            "gridwidth": 10,
+            "tickwidth": 50,
+            "tickcolor": "rgba(255,0,0,0.75)",
+            "gridcolor": "rgba(255,0,0,0.25)"
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/test/jasmine/tests/axes_test.js b/test/jasmine/tests/axes_test.js
index 45b1bff36bd..45fe6e87444 100644
--- a/test/jasmine/tests/axes_test.js
+++ b/test/jasmine/tests/axes_test.js
@@ -1887,10 +1887,16 @@ describe('Test axes', function() {
                 expect(axOut.tickmode).toBe('auto');
                 expect(axIn.tickmode).toBe('array');
 
+                axIn = {tickvals: [1, 2, 3]};
+                axOut = {};
+                mockSupplyDefaults(axIn, axOut, 'date');
+                expect(axOut.tickmode).toBe('array');
+                expect(axIn.tickmode).toBeUndefined();
+
                 axIn = {tickmode: 'array', tickvals: [1, 2, 3]};
                 axOut = {};
                 mockSupplyDefaults(axIn, axOut, 'date');
-                expect(axOut.tickmode).toBe('auto');
+                expect(axOut.tickmode).toBe('array');
                 expect(axIn.tickmode).toBe('array');
 
                 axIn = {tickvals: [1, 2, 3]};
@@ -1899,6 +1905,15 @@ describe('Test axes', function() {
                 expect(axOut.tickmode).toBe('array');
                 expect(axIn.tickmode).toBeUndefined();
 
+                var arr = new Float32Array(2);
+                arr[0] = 0;
+                arr[1] = 1;
+                axIn = {tickvals: arr};
+                axOut = {};
+                mockSupplyDefaults(axIn, axOut, 'linear');
+                expect(axOut.tickmode).toBe('array');
+                expect(axIn.tickmode).toBeUndefined();
+
                 axIn = {dtick: 1};
                 axOut = {};
                 mockSupplyDefaults(axIn, axOut, 'linear');
diff --git a/test/jasmine/tests/mock_test.js b/test/jasmine/tests/mock_test.js
index 0685d8f6001..c6054d51bbb 100644
--- a/test/jasmine/tests/mock_test.js
+++ b/test/jasmine/tests/mock_test.js
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ var list = [
     'axes_category_descending',
     'axes_category_descending_with_gaps',
     'axes_category_null',
+    'axes_custom-ticks_log-date',
     'axes_enumerated_ticks',
     'axes_free_default',
     'axes_labels',
@@ -1108,6 +1109,7 @@ figs['axes_category_categoryarray_truncated_tails'] = require('@mocks/axes_categ
 // figs['axes_category_descending'] = require('@mocks/axes_category_descending');
 // figs['axes_category_descending_with_gaps'] = require('@mocks/axes_category_descending_with_gaps');
 figs['axes_category_null'] = require('@mocks/axes_category_null');
+figs['axes_custom-ticks_log-date'] = require('@mocks/axes_custom-ticks_log-date');
 figs['axes_enumerated_ticks'] = require('@mocks/axes_enumerated_ticks');
 figs['axes_free_default'] = require('@mocks/axes_free_default');
 // figs['axes_labels'] = require('@mocks/axes_labels');