diff --git a/src/js/node/http.ts b/src/js/node/http.ts
index 0b049cb871..9938ad72e1 100644
--- a/src/js/node/http.ts
+++ b/src/js/node/http.ts
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ function checkInvalidHeaderChar(val: string) {
   return RegExpPrototypeExec.$call(headerCharRegex, val) !== null;
 }
 
-const validateHeaderName = (name, label) => {
+const validateHeaderName = name => {
   if (typeof name !== "string" || !name || !checkIsHttpToken(name)) {
     throw $ERR_INVALID_HTTP_TOKEN(`The arguments Header name is invalid. Received ${name}`);
   }
@@ -1698,6 +1698,8 @@ const OutgoingMessagePrototype = {
 
   setHeader(name, value) {
     validateHeaderName(name);
+    validateHeaderValue(name, value);
+
     const headers = (this[headersSymbol] ??= new Headers());
     setHeader(headers, name, value);
     return this;
@@ -2287,6 +2289,8 @@ const ServerResponsePrototype = {
       _writeHead(statusCode, statusMessage, headers, this);
       updateHasBody(this, statusCode);
       this[headerStateSymbol] = NodeHTTPHeaderState.assigned;
+    } else {
+      throw $ERR_HTTP_HEADERS_SENT("write");
     }
 
     return this;
@@ -3591,7 +3595,7 @@ function _writeHead(statusCode, reason, obj, response) {
     let k;
     if (Array.isArray(obj)) {
       if (obj.length % 2 !== 0) {
-        throw new Error("raw headers must have an even number of elements");
+        throw $ERR_INVALID_ARG_VALUE("headers", obj, "must be an object or an array with even number of elements");
       }
 
       for (let n = 0; n < obj.length; n += 2) {
diff --git a/test/js/node/test/parallel/test-http-write-head.js b/test/js/node/test/parallel/test-http-write-head.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..295fb8cd33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/js/node/test/parallel/test-http-write-head.js
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+// Copyright Joyent, Inc. and other Node contributors.
+//
+// Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
+// copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
+// "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
+// without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
+// distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit
+// persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the
+// following conditions:
+//
+// The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
+// in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+//
+// THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
+// OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
+// MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN
+// NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM,
+// DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR
+// OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE
+// USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+
+'use strict';
+const common = require('../common');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const http = require('http');
+
+// Verify that ServerResponse.writeHead() works as setHeader.
+// Issue 5036 on github.
+
+const s = http.createServer(common.mustCall((req, res) => {
+  res.setHeader('test', '1');
+
+  // toLowerCase() is used on the name argument, so it must be a string.
+  // Non-String header names should throw
+  assert.throws(
+    () => res.setHeader(0xf00, 'bar'),
+    {
+      code: 'ERR_INVALID_HTTP_TOKEN',
+      name: 'TypeError',
+    }
+  );
+
+  // Undefined value should throw, via 979d0ca8
+  assert.throws(
+    () => res.setHeader('foo', undefined),
+    {
+      code: 'ERR_HTTP_INVALID_HEADER_VALUE',
+      name: 'TypeError',
+    }
+  );
+
+  assert.throws(() => {
+    res.writeHead(200, ['invalid', 'headers', 'args']);
+  }, {
+    code: 'ERR_INVALID_ARG_VALUE'
+  });
+
+  res.writeHead(200, { Test: '2' });
+
+  assert.throws(() => {
+    res.writeHead(100, {});
+  }, {
+    code: 'ERR_HTTP_HEADERS_SENT',
+    name: 'Error',
+  });
+
+  res.end();
+}));
+
+s.listen(0, common.mustCall(runTest));
+
+function runTest() {
+  http.get({ port: this.address().port }, common.mustCall((response) => {
+    response.on('end', common.mustCall(() => {
+      assert.strictEqual(response.headers.test, '2');
+      s.close();
+    }));
+    response.resume();
+  }));
+}
+
+{
+  const server = http.createServer(common.mustCall((req, res) => {
+    res.writeHead(220, [ 'test', '1' ]); // 220 is not a standard status code
+    assert.strictEqual(res.statusMessage, 'unknown');
+
+    assert.throws(() => res.writeHead(200, [ 'test2', '2' ]), {
+      code: 'ERR_HTTP_HEADERS_SENT',
+      name: 'Error',
+    });
+    res.end();
+  }));
+
+  server.listen(0, common.mustCall(() => {
+    http.get({ port: server.address().port }, (res) => {
+      assert.strictEqual(res.headers.test, '1');
+      assert.strictEqual('test2' in res.headers, false);
+      res.resume().on('end', common.mustCall(() => {
+        server.close();
+      }));
+    });
+  }));
+}