diff --git a/lib/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid1/colorbar.py b/lib/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid1/colorbar.py
index 4268502dbd75..f5912c9fcfc2 100644
--- a/lib/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid1/colorbar.py
+++ b/lib/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid1/colorbar.py
@@ -374,9 +374,8 @@ def __init__(self, ax, cmap=None,
         if format is None:
             if isinstance(self.norm, colors.LogNorm):
                 # change both axis for proper aspect
-                self.ax.xaxis.set_scale("log")
-                self.ax.yaxis.set_scale("log")
-                self.ax._update_transScale()
+                self.ax.set_xscale("log")
+                self.ax.set_yscale("log")
                 self.cbar_axis.set_minor_locator(ticker.NullLocator())
                 formatter = ticker.LogFormatter()
             else:
diff --git a/lib/mpl_toolkits/tests/test_axes_grid1.py b/lib/mpl_toolkits/tests/test_axes_grid1.py
index 33c9b0ba3066..e3d0690f8853 100644
--- a/lib/mpl_toolkits/tests/test_axes_grid1.py
+++ b/lib/mpl_toolkits/tests/test_axes_grid1.py
@@ -4,8 +4,13 @@
 from matplotlib.externals import six
 
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
-from matplotlib.testing.decorators import image_comparison
+from matplotlib.testing.decorators import image_comparison, cleanup
+
 from mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1 import make_axes_locatable
+from mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1 import AxesGrid
+
+from matplotlib.colors import LogNorm
+
 import numpy as np
 
 
@@ -50,6 +55,23 @@ def test_divider_append_axes():
     axHistleft.yaxis.set_ticklabels(())
     axHistright.yaxis.set_ticklabels(())
 
+
+@cleanup
+def test_axesgrid_colorbar_log_smoketest():
+    fig = plt.figure()
+    grid = AxesGrid(fig, 111,  # modified to be only subplot
+                    nrows_ncols=(1, 1),
+                    label_mode="L",
+                    cbar_location="top",
+                    cbar_mode="single",
+                    )
+
+    Z = 10000 * np.random.rand(10, 10)
+    im = grid[0].imshow(Z, interpolation="nearest", norm=LogNorm())
+
+    grid.cbar_axes[0].colorbar(im)
+
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     import nose
     nose.runmodule(argv=['-s', '--with-doctest'], exit=False)