diff --git a/view/view.js b/view/view.js
index 11d4f758746..d1aeba6e4b4 100644
--- a/view/view.js
+++ b/view/view.js
@@ -669,8 +669,7 @@ steal("can/util", function( can ) {
 					return renderer;
 				}
 
-				$view.preload(id, info.renderer(id, text));
-				return can.view(id);
+				return $view.preload(id, info.renderer(id, text));
 			}
 		},
 		registerScript: function( type, id, src ) {
diff --git a/view/view_test.js b/view/view_test.js
index 9d2a6dc7056..e1c866f9417 100644
--- a/view/view_test.js
+++ b/view/view_test.js
@@ -704,4 +704,16 @@
 		equal(div.getElementsByTagName("h3")[0].innerHTML, 'Hi test',
 			'Got expected test from extensionless template');
 	});
+
+	test("can.view[engine] always returns fragment renderers (#485)", 2, function() {
+		var template = "<h1>{{message}}</h1>";
+		var withId = can.view.mustache('test-485', template);
+		var withoutId = can.view.mustache(template);
+
+		ok(withoutId({ message: 'Without id'}) instanceof DocumentFragment,
+			'View without id returned document fragment');
+
+		ok(withId({ message: 'With id'}) instanceof DocumentFragment,
+			'View with id returned document fragment');
+	});
 })();
\ No newline at end of file