diff --git a/blockchain/blockindex.go b/blockchain/blockindex.go
index 3e1606f7..8e330c6b 100644
--- a/blockchain/blockindex.go
+++ b/blockchain/blockindex.go
@@ -505,8 +505,37 @@ func (bi *blockIndex) flushToDB() error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
+	// Check if any dirty node actually needs to be written.  Header-only
+	// nodes are skipped for backwards compatibility (see NOTE below), so
+	// if every dirty node is header-only, we can avoid opening a write
+	// transaction entirely.  This matters during header sync where every
+	// ProcessBlockHeader call would otherwise open a no-op write txn.
+	needsWrite := false
+	for node := range bi.dirty {
+		if node.status.HaveData() {
+			needsWrite = true
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	if !needsWrite {
+		bi.dirty = make(map[*blockNode]struct{})
+		bi.Unlock()
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	err := bi.db.Update(func(dbTx database.Tx) error {
 		for node := range bi.dirty {
+			// NOTE: we specifically don't flush the block indexes that
+			// we don't have the data for backwards compatibility.
+			// While flushing would save us the work of re-downloading
+			// the block headers upon restart, if the user were to start
+			// up a btcd node with an older version, it would result in
+			// an unrecoverable error as older versions would consider a
+			// blockNode being present as having the block data as well.
+			if node.status.HaveHeader() &&
+				!node.status.HaveData() {
+				continue
+			}
 			err := dbStoreBlockNode(dbTx, node)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
diff --git a/blockchain/blockindex_test.go b/blockchain/blockindex_test.go
index cd08969f..47a47e92 100644
--- a/blockchain/blockindex_test.go
+++ b/blockchain/blockindex_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright (c) 2023 The utreexo developers
+// Copyright (c) 2015-2026 The btcsuite developers
 // Use of this source code is governed by an ISC
 // license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
 
@@ -7,8 +7,146 @@ package blockchain
 import (
 	"math/rand"
 	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/btcsuite/btcd/chaincfg"
+	"github.com/btcsuite/btcd/database"
+	"github.com/btcsuite/btcd/wire"
 )
 
+// countingDB wraps a database.DB and counts the number of Update calls.
+type countingDB struct {
+	database.DB
+	updates int
+}
+
+// Update increments the updates counter on a call.
+func (c *countingDB) Update(fn func(tx database.Tx) error) error {
+	c.updates++
+	return c.DB.Update(fn)
+}
+
+// TestFlushToDB tests that flushToDB only opens a write transaction when at
+// least one dirty node has block data and skips the transaction when all dirty
+// nodes are header-only.
+func TestFlushToDB(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name string
+
+		// statuses defines the dirty nodes to create for this test
+		// case. Each entry's status determines whether the node is
+		// header-only or has block data. A nil slice means no nodes
+		// are added (empty dirty set).
+		statuses []blockStatus
+
+		// wantUpdates is the expected number of DB Update calls.
+		wantUpdates int
+	}{
+		{
+			name:        "empty dirty set",
+			statuses:    nil,
+			wantUpdates: 0,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "single header-only node",
+			statuses:    []blockStatus{statusHeaderStored},
+			wantUpdates: 0,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "multiple header-only nodes",
+			statuses: []blockStatus{
+				statusHeaderStored,
+				statusHeaderStored,
+				statusHeaderStored,
+			},
+			wantUpdates: 0,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "single data node",
+			statuses:    []blockStatus{statusDataStored | statusHeaderStored},
+			wantUpdates: 1,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "header-only and data nodes mixed",
+			statuses: []blockStatus{
+				statusHeaderStored,
+				statusDataStored | statusHeaderStored,
+			},
+			wantUpdates: 1,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, test := range tests {
+		t.Run(test.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			chain, teardown, err := chainSetup(
+				"flushtodbtest", &chaincfg.SimNetParams,
+			)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("failed to setup chain: %v", err)
+			}
+			defer teardown()
+
+			bi := chain.index
+			cdb := &countingDB{DB: bi.db}
+			bi.db = cdb
+
+			// Create the dirty nodes for this test case, chaining
+			// each off the genesis tip.
+			tip := chain.bestChain.Tip()
+			var nodes []*blockNode
+			for i, status := range test.statuses {
+				node := newBlockNode(&wire.BlockHeader{
+					PrevBlock: tip.hash,
+					Nonce:     uint32(i),
+				}, tip)
+				node.status = status
+				bi.AddNode(node)
+				nodes = append(nodes, node)
+				tip = node
+			}
+
+			err = bi.flushToDB()
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			if cdb.updates != test.wantUpdates {
+				t.Fatalf("expected %d Update calls, got %d",
+					test.wantUpdates, cdb.updates)
+			}
+
+			bi.RLock()
+			dirtyLen := len(bi.dirty)
+			bi.RUnlock()
+
+			if dirtyLen != 0 {
+				t.Fatalf("expected dirty set to be empty, got %d",
+					dirtyLen)
+			}
+
+			// Nodes with block data should be in the DB;
+			// header-only nodes should not.
+			for i, node := range nodes {
+				var found bool
+				err := bi.db.View(func(dbTx database.Tx) error {
+					bucket := dbTx.Metadata().Bucket(blockIndexBucketName)
+					key := blockIndexKey(&node.hash, uint32(node.height))
+					found = bucket.Get(key) != nil
+					return nil
+				})
+				if err != nil {
+					t.Fatalf("node %d: View failed: %v", i, err)
+				}
+
+				wantInDB := node.status.HaveData()
+				if found != wantInDB {
+					t.Fatalf("node %d: in database = %v, want %v",
+						i, found, wantInDB)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestAncestor(t *testing.T) {
 	height := 500_000
 	blockNodes := chainedNodes(nil, height)