diff --git a/Jenkinsfile.groovy b/Jenkinsfile.groovy
index 7f5d2c227..3a91b6912 100644
--- a/Jenkinsfile.groovy
+++ b/Jenkinsfile.groovy
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ def buildTestSteps(Map myParams, String kubeConfigRoot, String kubeconfig) {
                     "DEPLOYMENTNAMESPACE=${myParams.TESTNAMESPACE}-${env.GIT_COMMIT}",
                     "DOCKERNAMESPACE=${myParams.DOCKERNAMESPACE}",
                     "ENTERPRISEIMAGE=${myParams.ENTERPRISEIMAGE}",
+                    "ARANGODIMAGE=${myParams.ARANGODIMAGE}",
                     "IMAGETAG=jenkins-test",
                     "KUBECONFIG=${kubeConfigRoot}/${kubeconfig}",
                     "LONG=${myParams.LONG ? 1 : 0}",
@@ -129,7 +130,8 @@ pipeline {
       string(name: 'DOCKERNAMESPACE', defaultValue: 'arangodb', description: 'DOCKERNAMESPACE sets the docker registry namespace in which the operator docker image will be pushed', )
       string(name: 'KUBECONFIGS', defaultValue: 'kube-ams1,scw-183a3b', description: 'KUBECONFIGS is a comma separated list of Kubernetes configuration files (relative to /home/jenkins/.kube) on which the tests are run', )
       string(name: 'TESTNAMESPACE', defaultValue: 'jenkins', description: 'TESTNAMESPACE sets the kubernetes namespace to ru tests in (this must be short!!)', )
-      string(name: 'ENTERPRISEIMAGE', defaultValue: '', description: 'ENTERPRISEIMAGE sets the docker image used for enterprise tests)', )
+      string(name: 'ENTERPRISEIMAGE', defaultValue: '', description: 'ENTERPRISEIMAGE sets the docker image used for enterprise tests', )
+      string(name: 'ARANGODIMAGE', defaultValue: '', description: 'ARANGODIMAGE sets the docker image used for tests (except enterprise and update tests)', )
       string(name: 'TESTOPTIONS', defaultValue: '', description: 'TESTOPTIONS is used to pass additional test options to the integration test', )
     }
     stages {
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index dee2ccc3e..d327403f5 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ endif
 	kubectl apply -f $(MANIFESTPATHDEPLOYMENTREPLICATION)
 	kubectl apply -f $(MANIFESTPATHTEST)
 	$(ROOTDIR)/scripts/kube_create_storage.sh $(DEPLOYMENTNAMESPACE)
-	$(ROOTDIR)/scripts/kube_run_tests.sh $(DEPLOYMENTNAMESPACE) $(TESTIMAGE) "$(ENTERPRISEIMAGE)" $(TESTTIMEOUT) $(TESTLENGTHOPTIONS)
+	$(ROOTDIR)/scripts/kube_run_tests.sh $(DEPLOYMENTNAMESPACE) $(TESTIMAGE) "$(ARANGODIMAGE)" "$(ENTERPRISEIMAGE)" $(TESTTIMEOUT) $(TESTLENGTHOPTIONS)
 
 $(DURATIONTESTBIN): $(GOBUILDDIR) $(SOURCES)
 	@mkdir -p $(BINDIR)
diff --git a/scripts/kube_run_tests.sh b/scripts/kube_run_tests.sh
index 8e8ca4c9c..9df7dec27 100755
--- a/scripts/kube_run_tests.sh
+++ b/scripts/kube_run_tests.sh
@@ -4,9 +4,10 @@
 
 DEPLOYMENTNAMESPACE=$1
 TESTIMAGE=$2
-ENTERPRISEIMAGE=$3
-TESTTIMEOUT=$4
-TESTLENGTHOPTIONS=$5
+ARANGODIMAGE=$3
+ENTERPRISEIMAGE=$4
+TESTTIMEOUT=$5
+TESTLENGTHOPTIONS=$6
 
 IMAGEID=$(docker inspect ${TESTIMAGE} '--format={{index .RepoDigests 0}}')
 
@@ -14,6 +15,7 @@ kubectl --namespace ${DEPLOYMENTNAMESPACE} \
     run arangodb-operator-test -i --rm --quiet --restart=Never \
     --image=${IMAGEID} \
     --env="ENTERPRISEIMAGE=${ENTERPRISEIMAGE}" \
+    --env="ARANGODIMAGE=${ARANGODIMAGE}" \
     --env="TEST_NAMESPACE=${DEPLOYMENTNAMESPACE}" \
     --env="CLEANDEPLOYMENTS=${CLEANDEPLOYMENTS}" \
     -- \
diff --git a/tests/test_util.go b/tests/test_util.go
index efbb26e93..3cbe03789 100644
--- a/tests/test_util.go
+++ b/tests/test_util.go
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/arangodb/kube-arangodb/pkg/util/arangod"
 	"github.com/arangodb/kube-arangodb/pkg/util/k8sutil"
 	"github.com/arangodb/kube-arangodb/pkg/util/retry"
+	"github.com/arangodb/kube-arangodb/pkg/util"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -231,9 +232,9 @@ func getNamespace(t *testing.T) string {
 }
 
 // newDeployment creates a basic ArangoDeployment with configured
-// type & name.
+// type, name and image.
 func newDeployment(name string) *api.ArangoDeployment {
-	return &api.ArangoDeployment{
+	depl := &api.ArangoDeployment{
 		TypeMeta: metav1.TypeMeta{
 			APIVersion: api.SchemeGroupVersion.String(),
 			Kind:       api.ArangoDeploymentResourceKind,
@@ -242,6 +243,17 @@ func newDeployment(name string) *api.ArangoDeployment {
 			Name: strings.ToLower(name),
 		},
 	}
+
+	// set default image to the value given in env
+	// some tests will override this value if they need a specific version
+	// like update tests
+	// if no value is given, use the operator default, which is arangodb/arangodb:latest
+	image := strings.TrimSpace(os.Getenv("ARANGODIMAGE"))
+	if image != "" {
+		depl.Spec.Image = util.NewString(image)
+	}
+
+	return depl
 }
 
 // waitUntilDeployment waits until a deployment with given name in given namespace