Using web3 estimateGas API (with infura) always returns the last block's gas limit

Question

I am entirely unsure what the root cause is, but every time I use web3.eth.estimateGas with my call's parameters, it results in the last blocks gas limit as the result (~8 million). I have even tested with a normal transaction which should result in 21,000 gas, but gives around 8 million. Not sure if a limitation of using infura nodes or a implementation issue.

// Get the gas estimate for the current transaction
window.web3.eth.estimateGas({
  from: transactionData.params[0].from,
  to: transactionData.params[0].to,
  data: transactionData.params[0].data,
  value: transactionData.params[0].value,
  nonce: transactionData.params[0].nonce
}, function(error, result) {
  console.log(result)l
}

Here is more specifically the way I am calling the API. Any suggestions?

UPDATE: I have a workaround, instead of using web3, I directly call Infura's eth_estiamteGas with a https POST. https://infura.io/docs/ethereum/json-rpc/eth_estimateGas

Answer 1

My guess would be this is the way to indicate that the transaction you are about to check is considered to be invalid for some reason, a.k.a. indicated by using 8 mil. gas, a.k.a. the maximum that's possible, a.k.a. to cause "out of gas".