diff --git a/Jenkinsfile b/Jenkinsfile
index 09c893268b..392253e845 100644
--- a/Jenkinsfile
+++ b/Jenkinsfile
@@ -272,9 +272,8 @@ node {
       'car tests': {
         pcStage("car tests") {
           sh label: "build", script: "selfdrive/manager/build.py"
-          sh label: "test_models", script: "INTERNAL_SEG_CNT=300 FILEREADER_CACHE=1 INTERNAL_SEG_LIST=selfdrive/car/tests/test_models_segs.txt \
-                                            pytest selfdrive/car/tests/test_models.py"
-          sh label: "test_car_interfaces", script: "MAX_EXAMPLES=300 pytest selfdrive/car/tests/test_car_interfaces.py"
+          sh label: "run car tests", script: "cd selfdrive/car/tests && MAX_EXAMPLES=300 INTERNAL_SEG_CNT=300 FILEREADER_CACHE=1 \
+              INTERNAL_SEG_LIST=selfdrive/car/tests/test_models_segs.txt pytest test_models.py test_car_interfaces.py"
         }
       },
 
diff --git a/conftest.py b/conftest.py
index e215bb8b4c..544025e180 100644
--- a/conftest.py
+++ b/conftest.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import gc
 import os
 import pytest
 import random
@@ -45,6 +46,11 @@ def openpilot_function_fixture(request):
   # cleanup any started processes
   manager.manager_cleanup()
 
+  # some processes disable gc for performance, re-enable here
+  if not gc.isenabled():
+    gc.enable()
+    gc.collect()
+
 # If you use setUpClass, the environment variables won't be cleared properly,
 # so we need to hook both the function and class pytest fixtures
 @pytest.fixture(scope="class", autouse=True)