diff --git a/activiti-spring/src/main/java/org/activiti/spring/ProcessEngineFactoryBean.java b/activiti-spring/src/main/java/org/activiti/spring/ProcessEngineFactoryBean.java
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/activiti-spring/src/main/java/org/activiti/spring/ProcessEngineFactoryBean.java
+++ b/activiti-spring/src/main/java/org/activiti/spring/ProcessEngineFactoryBean.java
@@ -59,9 +59,9 @@ public class ProcessEngineFactoryBean implements FactoryBean<ProcessEngine>, Dis
   }
 
   protected void initializeExpressionManager() {
-    if (applicationContext != null) {
+    if (processEngineConfiguration.getExpressionManager() == null && applicationContext != null) {
       processEngineConfiguration.setExpressionManager(
-        new SpringExpressionManager(applicationContext, processEngineConfiguration.getBeans()));
+          new SpringExpressionManager(applicationContext, processEngineConfiguration.getBeans()));
     }
   }
Fix for ACT-<I>