diff --git a/browser/components/search/content/search.xml b/browser/components/search/content/search.xml
index fc4328a3dc1f..289b40c77ba0 100644
--- a/browser/components/search/content/search.xml
+++ b/browser/components/search/content/search.xml
@@ -67,25 +67,25 @@
       <constructor><![CDATA[
         if (this.parentNode.parentNode.localName == "toolbarpaletteitem")
           return;
-        setTimeout(function (a) { a.init(); }, 0, this);
-      ]]></constructor>
+        // Make sure we rebuild the popup in onpopupshowing
+        this._needToBuildPopup = true;
 
-      <method name="init">
-        <body><![CDATA[
-          // Make sure we rebuild the popup in onpopupshowing
-          this._needToBuildPopup = true;
-
-          // Refresh the display (updating icon, etc)
-          this.updateDisplay();
-
-          var os =
+        var os =
                Components.classes["@mozilla.org/observer-service;1"]
                          .getService(Components.interfaces.nsIObserverService);
-          os.addObserver(this, "browser-search-engine-modified", false);
+        os.addObserver(this, "browser-search-engine-modified", false);
 
-          this._addedObserver = true;
-        ]]></body>
-      </method>
+        this._addedObserver = true;
+
+        this.searchService.init((function search_init_cb(aStatus) {
+          if (Components.isSuccessCode(aStatus)) {
+            // Refresh the display (updating icon, etc)
+            this.updateDisplay();
+          } else {
+            Components.utils.reportError("Cannot initialize search service, bailing out: " + aStatus);
+          }
+        }).bind(this));
+      ]]></constructor>
 
       <destructor><![CDATA[
         if (this._addedObserver) {
diff --git a/toolkit/components/search/nsSearchSuggestions.js b/toolkit/components/search/nsSearchSuggestions.js
index 9e179833adbd..d24caa4744c2 100644
--- a/toolkit/components/search/nsSearchSuggestions.js
+++ b/toolkit/components/search/nsSearchSuggestions.js
@@ -399,6 +399,26 @@ SuggestAutoComplete.prototype = {
     if (!previousResult)
       this._formHistoryResult = null;
 
+    // Start search immediately if possible, otherwise once the search
+    // service is initialized
+    if (Services.search.isInitialized) {
+      this._triggerSearch(searchString, searchParam, listener);
+      return;
+    }
+
+    Services.search.init((function startSearch_cb(aResult) {
+      if (!Components.isSuccessCode(aResult)) {
+        Cu.reportError("Could not initialize search service, bailing out: " + aResult);
+        return;
+      }
+      this._triggerSearch(searchString, searchParam, listener);
+    }).bind(this));
+  },
+
+  /**
+   * Actual implementation of search.
+   */
+  _triggerSearch: function(searchString, searchParam, listener) {
     // If there's an existing request, stop it. There is no smart filtering
     // here as there is when looking through history/form data because the
     // result set returned by the server is different for every typed value -
