diff --git a/django/db/models/sql/query.py b/django/db/models/sql/query.py
index c62c9ac23e..27a4ac9ce5 100644
--- a/django/db/models/sql/query.py
+++ b/django/db/models/sql/query.py
@@ -910,7 +910,12 @@ class Query(object):
             # Not all tables need to be joined to anything. No join type
             # means the later columns are ignored.
             join_type = None
-        elif promote or outer_if_first:
+        elif (promote or outer_if_first
+              or self.alias_map[lhs].join_type == self.LOUTER):
+            # We need to use LOUTER join if asked by promote or outer_if_first,
+            # or if the LHS table is left-joined in the query. Adding inner join
+            # to an existing outer join effectively cancels the effect of the
+            # outer join.
             join_type = self.LOUTER
         else:
             join_type = self.INNER
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/queries/models.py b/tests/regressiontests/queries/models.py
index 45a48ee77c..f0178a0256 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/queries/models.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/queries/models.py
@@ -385,3 +385,18 @@ class NullableName(models.Model):
 
     class Meta:
         ordering = ['id']
+
+class ModelD(models.Model):
+    name = models.TextField()
+
+class ModelC(models.Model):
+    name = models.TextField()
+
+class ModelB(models.Model):
+    name = models.TextField()
+    c = models.ForeignKey(ModelC)
+
+class ModelA(models.Model):
+    name = models.TextField()
+    b = models.ForeignKey(ModelB, null=True)
+    d = models.ForeignKey(ModelD)
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/queries/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/queries/tests.py
index 85ea4aa452..005aa9650b 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/queries/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/queries/tests.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ from .models import (Annotation, Article, Author, Celebrity, Child, Cover,
     Ranking, Related, Report, ReservedName, Tag, TvChef, Valid, X, Food, Eaten,
     Node, ObjectA, ObjectB, ObjectC, CategoryItem, SimpleCategory,
     SpecialCategory, OneToOneCategory, NullableName, ProxyCategory,
-    SingleObject, RelatedObject)
+    SingleObject, RelatedObject, ModelA, ModelD)
 
 
 class BaseQuerysetTest(TestCase):
@@ -2105,3 +2105,26 @@ class WhereNodeTest(TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(w.as_sql(qn, connection), (None, []))
         w = WhereNode(children=[empty_w, NothingNode()], connector='OR')
         self.assertRaises(EmptyResultSet, w.as_sql, qn, connection)
+
+class NullJoinPromotionOrTest(TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        d = ModelD.objects.create(name='foo')
+        ModelA.objects.create(name='bar', d=d)
+
+    def test_ticket_17886(self):
+        # The first Q-object is generating the match, the rest of the filters
+        # should not remove the match even if they do not match anything. The
+        # problem here was that b__name generates a LOUTER JOIN, then
+        # b__c__name generates join to c, which the ORM tried to promote but
+        # failed as that join isn't nullable.
+        q_obj =  (
+            Q(d__name='foo')|
+            Q(b__name='foo')|
+            Q(b__c__name='foo')
+        )
+        qset = ModelA.objects.filter(q_obj)
+        self.assertEqual(len(qset), 1)
+        # We generate one INNER JOIN to D. The join is direct and not nullable
+        # so we can use INNER JOIN for it. However, we can NOT use INNER JOIN
+        # for the b->c join, as a->b is nullable.
+        self.assertEqual(str(qset.query).count('INNER JOIN'), 1)