diff --git a/.github/workflows/selfdrive_tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/selfdrive_tests.yaml
index 24278af21b..be3324457a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/selfdrive_tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/selfdrive_tests.yaml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ env:
       docker pull $DOCKER_REGISTRY/$BASE_IMAGE:latest || true
       docker build --cache-from $DOCKER_REGISTRY/$BASE_IMAGE:latest -t $DOCKER_REGISTRY/$BASE_IMAGE:latest -t $BASE_IMAGE:latest -f Dockerfile.openpilot_base .
 
-  RUN: docker run --shm-size 1G -v $PWD:/tmp/openpilot -w /tmp/openpilot -e PYTHONPATH=/tmp/openpilot -e SCONS_CACHE=1 -e GITHUB_ACTION -e GITHUB_REF -e GITHUB_HEAD_REF -e GITHUB_SHA -e GITHUB_REPOSITORY -e GITHUB_RUN_ID -v /tmp/scons_cache:/tmp/scons_cache -v /tmp/comma_download_cache:/tmp/comma_download_cache $BASE_IMAGE /bin/sh -c
+  RUN: docker run --shm-size 1G -v $PWD:/tmp/openpilot -w /tmp/openpilot -e PYTHONPATH=/tmp/openpilot -e GITHUB_ACTION -e GITHUB_REF -e GITHUB_HEAD_REF -e GITHUB_SHA -e GITHUB_REPOSITORY -e GITHUB_RUN_ID -v /tmp/scons_cache:/tmp/scons_cache -v /tmp/comma_download_cache:/tmp/comma_download_cache $BASE_IMAGE /bin/sh -c
   UNIT_TEST: coverage run --append -m unittest discover
 
 jobs:
diff --git a/Jenkinsfile b/Jenkinsfile
index 127051fa8d..eca4f6d0a8 100644
--- a/Jenkinsfile
+++ b/Jenkinsfile
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ pipeline {
                 stage('Devel Tests') {
                   steps {
                     phone_steps("eon-build", [
-                      ["build devel", "cd release && SCONS_CACHE=1 DEVEL_TEST=1 ./build_devel.sh"],
+                      ["build devel", "cd release && DEVEL_TEST=1 ./build_devel.sh"],
                       ["test manager", "python selfdrive/manager/test/test_manager.py"],
                       ["onroad tests", "cd selfdrive/test/ && ./test_onroad.py"],
                       ["test car interfaces", "cd selfdrive/car/tests/ && ./test_car_interfaces.py"],
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ pipeline {
                       timeout(time: 90, unit: 'MINUTES') {
                         sh script: "/home/batman/tools/zookeeper/enable_and_wait.py $device_ip 120", label: "turn on device"
                         phone(device_ip, "git checkout", readFile("selfdrive/test/setup_device_ci.sh"),)
-                        phone(device_ip, "build", "SCONS_CACHE=1 scons -j4 && sync")
+                        phone(device_ip, "build", "scons -j4 && sync")
                         sh script: "/home/batman/tools/zookeeper/disable.py $device_ip", label: "turn off device"
                         sh script: "/home/batman/tools/zookeeper/enable_and_wait.py $device_ip 120", label: "turn on device"
                         sh script: "/home/batman/tools/zookeeper/check_consumption.py 60 3", label: "idle power consumption after boot"
diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index d0ddc62b14..6b7905bfc5 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -223,13 +223,10 @@ env = Environment(
 if GetOption('compile_db'):
   env.CompilationDatabase('compile_commands.json')
 
-if os.environ.get('SCONS_CACHE'):
-  cache_dir = '/tmp/scons_cache'
-  if TICI:
-    cache_dir = '/data/scons_cache'
-
-  CacheDir(cache_dir)
-  Clean(["."], cache_dir)
+# Setup cache dir
+cache_dir = '/data/scons_cache' if TICI else '/tmp/scons_cache'
+CacheDir(cache_dir)
+Clean(["."], cache_dir)
 
 node_interval = 5
 node_count = 0
diff --git a/release/build_release2.sh b/release/build_release2.sh
index fe4936913f..ee3c3f4656 100755
--- a/release/build_release2.sh
+++ b/release/build_release2.sh
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ popd
 # Build stuff
 ln -sfn /data/openpilot /data/pythonpath
 export PYTHONPATH="/data/openpilot:/data/openpilot/pyextra"
-SCONS_CACHE=1 scons -j3
+scons -j3
 
 # Run tests
 python selfdrive/manager/test/test_manager.py
diff --git a/release/build_release3.sh b/release/build_release3.sh
index 4c72eff47e..1a3879103a 100755
--- a/release/build_release3.sh
+++ b/release/build_release3.sh
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ popd
 
 # Build
 export PYTHONPATH="$BUILD_DIR"
-SCONS_CACHE=1 scons -j$(nproc)
+scons -j$(nproc)
 
 # Run tests
 #python selfdrive/manager/test/test_manager.py
diff --git a/selfdrive/manager/build.py b/selfdrive/manager/build.py
index bda4ab8a1f..5d6f008ef3 100755
--- a/selfdrive/manager/build.py
+++ b/selfdrive/manager/build.py
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ PREBUILT = os.path.exists(os.path.join(BASEDIR, 'prebuilt'))
 def build(spinner, dirty=False):
   env = os.environ.copy()
   env['SCONS_PROGRESS'] = "1"
-  env['SCONS_CACHE'] = "1"
   nproc = os.cpu_count()
   j_flag = "" if nproc is None else f"-j{nproc - 1}"