diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index aead579f8..0b60c007d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -229,7 +229,8 @@ generate-kustomize-api: $(MYGOBIN)/k8scopy
 
 .PHONY: test-unit-kustomize-api
 test-unit-kustomize-api: build-kustomize-api
-	cd api; go test ./...  -ldflags "-X sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/provenance.version=v444.333.222"
+	cd api; go test ./...  -ldflags "-X sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/provenance.version=v444.333.222"; \
+	cd krusty; OPENAPI_TEST=true go test -run TestCustomOpenAPIFieldFromComponentWithOverlays
 
 .PHONY: test-unit-kustomize-plugins
 test-unit-kustomize-plugins:
diff --git a/api/krusty/openapicustomschema_test.go b/api/krusty/openapicustomschema_test.go
index 9e90e31d8..0e1844250 100644
--- a/api/krusty/openapicustomschema_test.go
+++ b/api/krusty/openapicustomschema_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ package krusty_test
 
 import (
 	"io/ioutil"
+	"os"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
@@ -346,3 +347,109 @@ func TestCustomOpenAPIFieldFromComponent(t *testing.T) {
 	th.Run("prod", th.MakeDefaultOptions())
 	assert.Equal(t, "using custom schema from file provided", openapi.GetSchemaVersion())
 }
+
+// test for https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/issues/4179
+// kustomize is not seeing the openapi field from the component defined in the overlay
+func TestCustomOpenAPIFieldFromComponentWithOverlays(t *testing.T) {
+	if val, ok := os.LookupEnv("OPENAPI_TEST"); !ok || val != "true" {
+		t.SkipNow()
+	}
+
+	th := kusttest_test.MakeHarness(t)
+
+	// overlay declaring the component
+	th.WriteK("overlays/overlay-component-openapi", `resources:
+- ../base/
+components:
+- ../../components/dc-openapi
+`)
+
+	// base kustomization
+	th.WriteK("overlays/base", `resources:
+- dc.yml
+`)
+
+	// resource declared in the base kustomization
+	th.WriteF("overlays/base/dc.yml", `apiVersion: apps.openshift.io/v1
+kind: DeploymentConfig
+metadata:
+  name: my-dc
+spec:
+  template:
+    spec:
+      initContainers:
+        - name: init
+      containers:
+        - name: container
+          env:
+            - name: foo
+              value: bar
+          volumeMounts:
+            - name: cm
+              mountPath: /opt/cm
+      volumes:
+        - name: cm
+          configMap:
+            name: cm
+`)
+
+	// openapi schema referred to by the component
+	bytes, _ := ioutil.ReadFile("testdata/openshiftschema.json")
+	th.WriteF("components/dc-openapi/openapi.json", string(bytes))
+
+	// patch referred to by the component
+	th.WriteF("components/dc-openapi/patch.yml", `apiVersion: apps.openshift.io/v1
+kind: DeploymentConfig
+metadata:
+  name: my-dc
+spec:
+  template:
+    spec:
+      containers:
+        - name: container
+          volumeMounts:
+            - name: additional-cm
+              mountPath: /mnt
+      volumes:
+        - name: additional-cm
+          configMap:
+             name: additional-cm
+`)
+
+	// component declared in overlay with custom schema and patch
+	th.WriteC("components/dc-openapi", `patches:
+  - patch.yml
+openapi:
+  path: openapi.json
+`)
+
+	openapi.ResetOpenAPI()
+	m := th.Run("overlays/overlay-component-openapi", th.MakeDefaultOptions())
+	th.AssertActualEqualsExpected(m, `apiVersion: apps.openshift.io/v1
+kind: DeploymentConfig
+metadata:
+  name: my-dc
+spec:
+  template:
+    spec:
+      containers:
+      - env:
+        - name: foo
+          value: bar
+        name: container
+        volumeMounts:
+        - mountPath: /mnt
+          name: additional-cm
+        - mountPath: /opt/cm
+          name: cm
+      initContainers:
+      - name: init
+      volumes:
+      - configMap:
+          name: additional-cm
+        name: additional-cm
+      - configMap:
+          name: cm
+        name: cm
+`)
+}
diff --git a/api/krusty/testdata/openshiftschema.json b/api/krusty/testdata/openshiftschema.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b2efc185d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/krusty/testdata/openshiftschema.json
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+{
+  "definitions": {
+    "com.github.openshift.api.apps.v1.DeploymentConfig": {
+      "type": "object",
+      "required": [
+        "spec"
+      ],
+      "properties": {
+        "apiVersion": {
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        "kind": {
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        "metadata": {
+          "$ref": "#/definitions/io.k8s.apimachinery.pkg.apis.meta.v1.ObjectMeta"
+        },
+        "spec": {
+          "$ref": "#/definitions/com.github.openshift.api.apps.v1.DeploymentConfigSpec"
+        }
+      },
+      "x-kubernetes-group-version-kind": [
+        {
+          "group": "apps.openshift.io",
+          "kind": "DeploymentConfig",
+          "version": "v1"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    "com.github.openshift.api.apps.v1.DeploymentConfigSpec": {
+      "type": "object",
+      "properties": {
+        "template": {
+          "$ref": "#/definitions/io.k8s.api.core.v1.PodTemplateSpec"
+        }
+      }
+    },
+    "io.k8s.api.core.v1.Volume": {
+      "type": "object",
+      "required": [
+        "name"
+      ],
+      "properties": {
+        "configMap": {
+          "$ref": "#/definitions/io.k8s.api.core.v1.ConfigMapVolumeSource"
+        },
+        "name": {
+          "type": "string"
+        }
+      }
+    },
+    "io.k8s.api.core.v1.VolumeMount": {
+      "type": "object",
+      "required": [
+        "name",
+        "mountPath"
+      ],
+      "properties": {
+        "mountPath": {
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        "name": {
+          "type": "string"
+        }
+      }
+    },
+    "io.k8s.apimachinery.pkg.apis.meta.v1.ObjectMeta": {
+      "type": "object",
+      "properties": {
+        "name": {
+          "type": "string"
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/kyaml/openapi/openapi.go b/kyaml/openapi/openapi.go
index 6633b69c7..8b644166a 100644
--- a/kyaml/openapi/openapi.go
+++ b/kyaml/openapi/openapi.go
@@ -555,6 +555,8 @@ func SetSchema(openAPIField map[string]string, schema []byte, reset bool) error
 	if schema != nil { // use custom schema
 		customSchema = schema
 		kubernetesOpenAPIVersion = "custom"
+		// if the schema is changed, initSchema should parse the new schema
+		globalSchema.schemaInit = false
 		return nil
 	}
 
@@ -567,6 +569,8 @@ func SetSchema(openAPIField map[string]string, schema []byte, reset bool) error
 		return fmt.Errorf("the specified OpenAPI version is not built in")
 	}
 	customSchema = nil
+	// if the schema is changed, initSchema should parse the new schema
+	globalSchema.schemaInit = false
 	return nil
 }