diff --git a/wp-includes/comment.php b/wp-includes/comment.php
index f2460563e0..47e51bcf88 100644
--- a/wp-includes/comment.php
+++ b/wp-includes/comment.php
@@ -1570,7 +1570,7 @@ function _close_comments_for_old_posts( $posts ) {
 }
 
 /**
- * Close comments on an old post.  Hooked to comments_open.
+ * Close comments on an old post.  Hooked to comments_open and pings_open.
  *
  * @access private
  * @since 2.7.0
diff --git a/xmlrpc.php b/xmlrpc.php
index 6a0dfcb0c9..706fd73af5 100644
--- a/xmlrpc.php
+++ b/xmlrpc.php
@@ -3236,7 +3236,7 @@ class wp_xmlrpc_server extends IXR_Server {
 			return new IXR_Error(0, __('The source URL and the target URL cannot both point to the same resource.'));
 
 		// Check if pings are on
-		if ( 'closed' == $post->ping_status )
+		if ( !pings_open($post) )
 	  		return new IXR_Error(33, __('The specified target URL cannot be used as a target. It either doesn\'t exist, or it is not a pingback-enabled resource.'));
 
 		// Let's check that the remote site didn't already pingback this entry