diff --git a/django/http/request.py b/django/http/request.py
index 73858c5abd..83131d52c3 100644
--- a/django/http/request.py
+++ b/django/http/request.py
@@ -226,8 +226,8 @@ class HttpRequest(object):
         next access (so that it is decoded correctly).
         """
         self._encoding = val
-        if hasattr(self, '_get'):
-            del self._get
+        if hasattr(self, 'GET'):
+            del self.GET
         if hasattr(self, '_post'):
             del self._post
 
diff --git a/tests/requests/tests.py b/tests/requests/tests.py
index 4989071cbb..1a243a02b0 100644
--- a/tests/requests/tests.py
+++ b/tests/requests/tests.py
@@ -562,6 +562,16 @@ class RequestsTests(SimpleTestCase):
         request.encoding = 'iso-8859-16'
         self.assertEqual(request.POST, {'name': ['Hello GĂŒnter']})
 
+    def test_set_encoding_clears_GET(self):
+        request = WSGIRequest({
+            'REQUEST_METHOD': 'GET',
+            'wsgi.input': '',
+            'QUERY_STRING': b'name=Hello%20G%C3%BCnter' if six.PY2 else 'name=Hello%20G%C3%BCnter'
+        })
+        self.assertEqual(request.GET, {'name': ['Hello Günter']})
+        request.encoding = 'iso-8859-16'
+        self.assertEqual(request.GET, {'name': ['Hello G\u0102\u0152nter']})
+
     def test_FILES_connection_error(self):
         """
         If wsgi.input.read() raises an exception while trying to read() the