diff --git a/lib/capybara/session.rb b/lib/capybara/session.rb
index d79e5741..b32dd135 100644
--- a/lib/capybara/session.rb
+++ b/lib/capybara/session.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+require 'capybara/wait_until'
+
 module Capybara
   class Session
     include Searchable
@@ -38,65 +40,56 @@ module Capybara
     end
 
     def click(locator)
-      link = wait_for(XPath.link(locator).button(locator))
-      raise Capybara::ElementNotFound, "no link or button '#{locator}' found" unless link
-      link.click
+      msg = "no link or button '#{locator}' found"
+      locate(XPath.link(locator).button(locator), msg).click
     end
 
     def click_link(locator)
-      link = wait_for(XPath.link(locator))
-      raise Capybara::ElementNotFound, "no link with title, id or text '#{locator}' found" unless link
-      link.click
+      msg = "no link with title, id or text '#{locator}' found"
+      locate(XPath.link(locator), msg).click
     end
 
     def click_button(locator)
-      button = wait_for(XPath.button(locator))
-      raise Capybara::ElementNotFound, "no button with value or id or text '#{locator}' found" unless button
-      button.click
+      msg = "no button with value or id or text '#{locator}' found"
+      locate(XPath.button(locator)).click
     end
 
     def drag(source_locator, target_locator)
-      source = wait_for(source_locator)
-      raise Capybara::ElementNotFound, "drag source '#{source_locator}' not found on page" unless source
-      target = wait_for(target_locator)
-      raise Capybara::ElementNotFound, "drag target '#{target_locator}' not found on page" unless target
+      source = locate(source_locator, "drag source '#{source_locator}' not found on page")
+      
+      target = locate(target_locator, "drag target '#{target_locator}' not found on page")
+      
       source.drag_to(target)
     end
 
     def fill_in(locator, options={})
-      field = wait_for(XPath.fillable_field(locator))
-      raise Capybara::ElementNotFound, "cannot fill in, no text field, text area or password field with id or label '#{locator}' found" unless field
-      field.set(options[:with])
+      msg = "cannot fill in, no text field, text area or password field with id or label '#{locator}' found"
+      locate(XPath.fillable_field(locator), msg).set(options[:with])
     end
 
     def choose(locator)
-      field = wait_for(XPath.radio_button(locator))
-      raise Capybara::ElementNotFound, "cannot choose field, no radio button with id or label '#{locator}' found" unless field
-      field.set(true)
+      msg = "cannot choose field, no radio button with id or label '#{locator}' found"
+      locate(XPath.radio_button(locator), msg).set(true)
     end
 
     def check(locator)
-      field = wait_for(XPath.checkbox(locator))
-      raise Capybara::ElementNotFound, "cannot check field, no checkbox with id or label '#{locator}' found" unless field
-      field.set(true)
+      msg = "cannot check field, no checkbox with id or label '#{locator}' found"
+      locate(XPath.checkbox(locator), msg).set(true)
     end
 
     def uncheck(locator)
-      field = wait_for(XPath.checkbox(locator))
-      raise Capybara::ElementNotFound, "cannot uncheck field, no checkbox with id or label '#{locator}' found" unless field
-      field.set(false)
+      msg = "cannot uncheck field, no checkbox with id or label '#{locator}' found"
+      locate(XPath.checkbox(locator), msg).set(false)
     end
 
     def select(value, options={})
-      field = wait_for(XPath.select(options[:from]))
-      raise Capybara::ElementNotFound, "cannot select option, no select box with id or label '#{options[:from]}' found" unless field
-      field.select(value)
+      msg = "cannot select option, no select box with id or label '#{options[:from]}' found"
+      locate(XPath.select(options[:from])).select(value)
     end
 
     def attach_file(locator, path)
-      field = wait_for(XPath.file_field(locator))
-      raise Capybara::ElementNotFound, "cannot attach file, no file field with id or label '#{locator}' found" unless field
-      field.set(path)
+      msg = "cannot attach file, no file field with id or label '#{locator}' found"
+      locate(XPath.file_field(locator)).set(path)
     end
 
     def body
@@ -106,7 +99,7 @@ module Capybara
     def within(kind, scope=nil)
       kind, scope = Capybara.default_selector, kind unless scope
       scope = XPath.from_css(scope) if kind == :css
-      raise Capybara::ElementNotFound, "scope '#{scope}' not found on page" unless wait_for(scope)
+      locate(scope, "scope '#{scope}' not found on page")
       scopes.push(scope)
       yield
       scopes.pop
@@ -129,25 +122,29 @@ module Capybara
       Capybara::SaveAndOpenPage.save_and_open_page(body)
     end
 
-    def wait_for(locator)
-      wait_until { find(locator) }
+    #return node identified by locator or raise ElementNotFound(using desc)
+    def locate(locator, fail_msg = nil)
+      
+      fail_msg ||= "Unable to locate '#{locator}'"
+       
+      node = nil
+      begin
+        if driver.wait?
+          node = wait_until { find(locator) }
+        else
+          node = find(locator)
+        end
+      rescue Capybara::TimeoutError; end
+          
+      raise Capybara::ElementNotFound, fail_msg unless node
+      
+      node
     end
   
-    def wait_for_condition(script)
-      wait_until { evaluate_script(script) }
+    def wait_until(timeout = Capybara.default_wait_time)
+      WaitUntil.timeout(timeout) { yield }
     end
-
-    def wait_until
-      return yield unless driver.wait?
-      10.times do
-        if result = yield
-          return result
-        end
-        sleep(0.1)
-      end
-      nil
-    end
-    
+  
     def evaluate_script(script)
       driver.evaluate_script(script)
     end
diff --git a/spec/dsl/wait_for_spec.rb b/spec/dsl/locate_spec.rb
similarity index 50%
rename from spec/dsl/wait_for_spec.rb
rename to spec/dsl/locate_spec.rb
index 8c57b793..b796b52a 100644
--- a/spec/dsl/wait_for_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/dsl/locate_spec.rb
@@ -1,23 +1,25 @@
-module WaitForSpec
-  shared_examples_for "wait_for" do
-    describe '#wait_for' do
+module LocateSpec
+  shared_examples_for "locate" do
+    describe '#locate' do
       before do
         @session.visit('/with_html')
       end
 
       it "should find the first element using the given locator" do
-        @session.wait_for('//h1').text.should == 'This is a test'
-        @session.wait_for("//input[@id='test_field']")[:value].should == 'monkey'
+        @session.locate('//h1').text.should == 'This is a test'
+        @session.locate("//input[@id='test_field']")[:value].should == 'monkey'
       end
 
-      it "should return nil when nothing was found" do
-        @session.wait_for('//div[@id="nosuchthing"]').should be_nil
+      it "should raise ElementNotFound with specified fail message if nothing was found" do
+        running do
+          @session.locate('//div[@id="nosuchthing"]', 'arghh').should be_nil
+        end.should raise_error(Capybara::ElementNotFound, "arghh")
       end
 
       it "should accept an XPath instance and respect the order of paths" do
         @session.visit('/form')
         @xpath = Capybara::XPath.text_field('Name')
-        @session.wait_for(@xpath).value.should == 'John Smith'
+        @session.locate(@xpath).value.should == 'John Smith'
       end
 
       context "within a scope" do
@@ -27,7 +29,7 @@ module WaitForSpec
 
         it "should find the first element using the given locator" do
           @session.within(:xpath, "//div[@id='for_bar']") do
-            @session.wait_for('//li').text.should =~ /With Simple HTML/
+            @session.locate('//li').text.should =~ /With Simple HTML/
           end        
         end
       end
diff --git a/spec/session_spec.rb b/spec/session_spec.rb
index d63de5f2..9f689f54 100644
--- a/spec/session_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/session_spec.rb
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ shared_examples_for "session" do
   it_should_behave_like "has_xpath"
   it_should_behave_like "select"
   it_should_behave_like "uncheck"
-  it_should_behave_like "wait_for"
+  it_should_behave_like "locate"
   it_should_behave_like "within"
   it_should_behave_like "current_url"
 end
diff --git a/spec/session_with_javascript_support_spec.rb b/spec/session_with_javascript_support_spec.rb
index 8e034fae..d46ecaac 100644
--- a/spec/session_with_javascript_support_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/session_with_javascript_support_spec.rb
@@ -10,17 +10,24 @@ shared_examples_for "session with javascript support" do
     end
   end
 
-  describe '#wait_for' do
+  describe '#locate' do
     it "should wait for asynchronous load" do
       @session.visit('/with_js')
       @session.click_link('Click me')
-      @session.wait_for("//a[contains(.,'Has been clicked')]")[:href].should == '#'
+      @session.locate("//a[contains(.,'Has been clicked')]")[:href].should == '#'
     end
   end
   
   describe '#wait_until' do
+    before do
+      @default_timeout = Capybara.default_wait_time
+    end
 
-    it "should wait for block to return true" do      
+    after do
+      Capybara.default_wait_time = @default_wait_time
+    end
+
+    it "should wait for block to return true" do
       @session.visit('/with_js')
       @session.select('My Waiting Option', :from => 'waiter')
       @session.evaluate_script('activeRequests == 1').should be_true
@@ -30,21 +37,31 @@ shared_examples_for "session with javascript support" do
       @session.evaluate_script('activeRequests == 0').should be_true
     end
 
-    it "should return false if block doesn't return true within timeout" do
+    it "should raise Capybara::TimeoutError if block doesn't return true within timeout" do
       @session.visit('/with_html')
-
-      @session.wait_until { false }.should be_nil
+      Proc.new do
+        @session.wait_until(0.1) do
+          @session.find('//div[@id="nosuchthing"]')
+        end
+      end.should raise_error(::Capybara::TimeoutError)
+    end
+    
+    it "should accept custom timeout in seconds" do
+      start = Time.now
+      Capybara.default_wait_time = 5
+      begin
+        @session.wait_until(0.1) { false }
+      rescue Capybara::TimeoutError; end
+      (Time.now - start).should be_close(0.1, 0.1)
     end
 
-  end
-
-  describe '#wait_for_condition' do
-    it "should wait for condition to be true" do
-      @session.visit('/with_js')
-      @session.select('My Waiting Option', :from => 'waiter')
-      @session.evaluate_script('activeRequests == 1').should be_true
-      @session.wait_for_condition('activeRequests == 0').should be_true
-      @session.evaluate_script('activeRequests == 0').should be_true
+    it "should default to Capybara.default_wait_time before timeout" do
+      start = Time.now
+      Capybara.default_wait_time = 0.2
+      begin
+        @session.wait_until { false }
+      rescue Capybara::TimeoutError; end
+      (Time.now - start).should be_close(0.2, 0.1)
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/session_without_javascript_support_spec.rb b/spec/session_without_javascript_support_spec.rb
index 99d763eb..af54d775 100644
--- a/spec/session_without_javascript_support_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/session_without_javascript_support_spec.rb
@@ -12,18 +12,4 @@ shared_examples_for "session without javascript support" do
     end
   end
 
-  describe '#wait_until' do
-     it "should not wait for asynchronous load" do
-       @session.visit('/with_html')
-
-       before_time = Time.new
-
-       @session.wait_until do
-         @session.find('//div[@id="nosuchthing"]')
-       end.should be_nil
-
-       (Time.now - before_time).should be < 2
-     end
-
-   end
 end