diff --git a/platformio/app.py b/platformio/app.py
index 4104dae4..e6cbc0b2 100644
--- a/platformio/app.py
+++ b/platformio/app.py
@@ -238,8 +238,6 @@ class ContentCache(object):
     def clean(self):
         if not self.cache_dir or not isdir(self.cache_dir):
             return
-        if not self._lock_dbindex():
-            return
         util.rmtree_(self.cache_dir)