diff --git a/src/Bifrost.Web/Features/Heimdall/HeimdallAuthService.cs b/src/Bifrost.Web/Features/Heimdall/HeimdallAuthService.cs
index e3abda2..b34a21d 100644
--- a/src/Bifrost.Web/Features/Heimdall/HeimdallAuthService.cs
+++ b/src/Bifrost.Web/Features/Heimdall/HeimdallAuthService.cs
@@ -53,18 +53,29 @@ public sealed class HeimdallAuthService(
         }
     }
 
+    private const int RefusalBodyLimit = 4096;
+
     /// <summary>
-    /// Names the HTTP status and, when the body carries one, Heimdall's error code. The code is shown only
-    /// if it is a short snake_case token, so nothing else from the body (free text, tokens) reaches a log.
+    /// Names the HTTP status and, when the first 4 KiB of the body carry one, Heimdall's error code. The code
+    /// is shown only if it is a short snake_case token, so nothing else from the body (free text, tokens)
+    /// reaches a log. A body that cannot be read or parsed leaves the status alone: a refusal never becomes a 500.
     /// </summary>
     private static async Task<string> RefusedStartMessageAsync(HttpResponseMessage response, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
     {
         var detail = $"HTTP {(int)response.StatusCode}";
         try
         {
-            var body = await response.Content.ReadFromJsonAsync<JsonElement>(cancellationToken);
-            if (body.ValueKind == JsonValueKind.Object
-                && body.TryGetProperty("error", out var error)
+            await using var stream = await response.Content.ReadAsStreamAsync(cancellationToken);
+            var head = new byte[RefusalBodyLimit];
+            var length = 0;
+            while (length < head.Length && await stream.ReadAsync(head.AsMemory(length), cancellationToken) is > 0 and var read)
+            {
+                length += read;
+            }
+
+            using var body = JsonDocument.Parse(head.AsMemory(0, length));
+            if (body.RootElement.ValueKind == JsonValueKind.Object
+                && body.RootElement.TryGetProperty("error", out var error)
                 && error.ValueKind == JsonValueKind.String
                 && error.GetString() is { Length: > 0 and <= 64 } code
                 && code.All(c => c is (>= 'a' and <= 'z') or (>= '0' and <= '9') or '_'))
@@ -72,7 +83,7 @@ public sealed class HeimdallAuthService(
                 detail += ", " + code;
             }
         }
-        catch (JsonException)
+        catch (Exception) when (!cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested)
         {
         }
 
diff --git a/tests/Bifrost.Web.Tests/HeimdallCompletionTests.cs b/tests/Bifrost.Web.Tests/HeimdallCompletionTests.cs
index f7e40de..da9463a 100644
--- a/tests/Bifrost.Web.Tests/HeimdallCompletionTests.cs
+++ b/tests/Bifrost.Web.Tests/HeimdallCompletionTests.cs
@@ -1154,6 +1154,49 @@ public sealed class HeimdallCompletionTests
         Assert.DoesNotContain("free text", logs);
     }
 
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task A_code_longer_than_sixty_four_characters_is_not_logged()
+    {
+        using var host = new HeimdallHost();
+        host.Heimdall.StartStatus = HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized;
+        host.Heimdall.StartBody = "{\"error\":\"" + new string('a', 65) + "\"}";
+
+        await host.StartAsync(member: true);
+
+        var logs = string.Join("\n", host.Logs.Lines);
+        Assert.Contains("Heimdall start refused: Heimdall rejected the auth start (HTTP 401).", logs);
+        Assert.DoesNotContain(new string('a', 65), logs);
+    }
+
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("text/html; charset=windows-1252")]
+    [InlineData("text/html; charset=bogus")]
+    [InlineData("text/html; charset=utf-7")]
+    public async Task A_refusal_whose_body_cannot_be_decoded_still_redirects_with_the_status(string contentType)
+    {
+        using var host = new HeimdallHost();
+        host.Heimdall.StartStatus = HttpStatusCode.BadGateway;
+        host.Heimdall.StartContentType = contentType;
+        host.Heimdall.StartBody = "<html>bad gateway</html>";
+
+        var attempt = await host.StartAsync();
+
+        Assert.Equal(ErrorRedirect, attempt.Response.Headers.Location!.OriginalString);
+        Assert.Contains("Heimdall start refused: Heimdall rejected the auth start (HTTP 502).", string.Join("\n", host.Logs.Lines));
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task Only_the_head_of_a_refusal_body_is_read()
+    {
+        using var host = new HeimdallHost();
+        host.Heimdall.StartStatus = HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized;
+        host.Heimdall.StartBody = "{\"pad\":\"" + new string('x', 200_000) + "\",\"error\":\"app_auth_required\"}";
+
+        await host.StartAsync(member: true);
+
+        Assert.Contains("Heimdall start refused: Heimdall rejected the auth start (HTTP 401).", string.Join("\n", host.Logs.Lines));
+    }
+
     [Fact]
     public async Task Refusals_echo_no_input_in_responses_or_logs()
     {
diff --git a/tests/Bifrost.Web.Tests/Support/HeimdallTestKit.cs b/tests/Bifrost.Web.Tests/Support/HeimdallTestKit.cs
index bd5f917..67dd4fe 100644
--- a/tests/Bifrost.Web.Tests/Support/HeimdallTestKit.cs
+++ b/tests/Bifrost.Web.Tests/Support/HeimdallTestKit.cs
@@ -207,6 +207,9 @@ public sealed class FakeHeimdall : HttpMessageHandler
 
     public HttpStatusCode StartStatus { get; set; } = HttpStatusCode.OK;
 
+    /// <summary>A raw Content-Type header for the start answer (for example a charset .NET cannot decode); null means application/json.</summary>
+    public string? StartContentType { get; set; }
+
     public string StartBody { get; set; } =
         """{"authorizationUrl":"https://heimdall.test/oauth/discord/authorize?state=fixture"}""";
 
@@ -263,10 +266,9 @@ public sealed class FakeHeimdall : HttpMessageHandler
                 };
             }
 
-            return new HttpResponseMessage(StartStatus)
-            {
-                Content = new StringContent(StartBody, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json")
-            };
+            var content = new ByteArrayContent(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(StartBody));
+            content.Headers.TryAddWithoutValidation("Content-Type", StartContentType ?? "application/json");
+            return new HttpResponseMessage(StartStatus) { Content = content };
         }
 
         if (request.Method == HttpMethod.Post && path == "/v1/apps/bifrost/auth-completions/redeem")