diff --git a/ssl/ssl_lib.c b/ssl/ssl_lib.c
index fc41a3bf1..736423fd1 100644
--- a/ssl/ssl_lib.c
+++ b/ssl/ssl_lib.c
@@ -1608,6 +1608,12 @@ SSL_CTX *SSL_CTX_new(const SSL_METHOD *meth)
 	{
 	ENGINE *eng;
 	eng = ENGINE_by_id(eng_str(OPENSSL_SSL_CLIENT_ENGINE_AUTO));
+	if (!eng)
+		{
+		ERR_clear_error();
+		ENGINE_load_builtin_engines();
+		eng = ENGINE_by_id(eng_str(OPENSSL_SSL_CLIENT_ENGINE_AUTO));
+		}
 	if (!eng || !SSL_CTX_set_client_cert_engine(ret, eng))
 		ERR_clear_error();
 	}