diff --git a/lib/ansible/parsing/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/parsing/__init__.py
index 4efb19f16d..dcd76208ac 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/parsing/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/parsing/__init__.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import stat
 from yaml import load, YAMLError
 from six import text_type, string_types
 
-from ansible.errors import AnsibleParserError
+from ansible.errors import AnsibleFileNotFound, AnsibleParserError
 from ansible.errors.yaml_strings import YAML_SYNTAX_ERROR
 from ansible.parsing.vault import VaultLib
 from ansible.parsing.splitter import unquote
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ class DataLoader():
             raise AnsibleParserError("Invalid filename: '%s'" % str(file_name))
 
         if not self.path_exists(file_name) or not self.is_file(file_name):
-            raise AnsibleParserError("the file_name '%s' does not exist, or is not readable" % file_name)
+            raise AnsibleFileNotFound("the file_name '%s' does not exist, or is not readable" % file_name)
 
         show_content = True
         try:
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ class DataLoader():
 
         this_path = os.path.realpath(os.path.expanduser(vault_password_file))
         if not os.path.exists(this_path):
-            raise AnsibleError("The vault password file %s was not found" % this_path)
+            raise AnsibleFileNotFound("The vault password file %s was not found" % this_path)
 
         if self.is_executable(this_path):
             try:
diff --git a/lib/ansible/vars/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/vars/__init__.py
index 8822742230..eabc6c38dc 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/vars/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/vars/__init__.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ except ImportError:
 
 from ansible import constants as C
 from ansible.cli import CLI
-from ansible.errors import AnsibleError, AnsibleParserError, AnsibleUndefinedVariable
+from ansible.errors import AnsibleError, AnsibleParserError, AnsibleUndefinedVariable, AnsibleFileNotFound
 from ansible.inventory.host import Host
 from ansible.parsing import DataLoader
 from ansible.plugins.cache import FactCache
@@ -268,12 +268,14 @@ class VariableManager:
                             if data is not None:
                                 for item in data:
                                     all_vars = combine_vars(all_vars, item)
-                                break
-                        except AnsibleParserError as e:
+                            break
+                        except AnsibleFileNotFound as e:
                             # we continue on loader failures
                             continue
+                        except AnsibleParserError as e:
+                            raise
                     else:
-                        raise AnsibleError("vars file %s was not found" % vars_file_item)
+                        raise AnsibleFileNotFound("vars file %s was not found" % vars_file_item)
                 except (UndefinedError, AnsibleUndefinedVariable):
                     if host is not None and self._fact_cache.get(host.name, dict()).get('module_setup') and task is not None:
                         raise AnsibleUndefinedVariable("an undefined variable was found when attempting to template the vars_files item '%s'" % vars_file_item, obj=vars_file_item)