diff --git a/openapi_spec_validator/validation/validators.py b/openapi_spec_validator/validation/validators.py
index 796db96b..b9d99654 100644
--- a/openapi_spec_validator/validation/validators.py
+++ b/openapi_spec_validator/validation/validators.py
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@
 
 import logging
 import warnings
+from collections.abc import Iterable
 from collections.abc import Iterator
 from collections.abc import Mapping
-from functools import lru_cache
 from typing import cast
 
 from jsonschema.exceptions import ValidationError
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 from openapi_spec_validator.schemas.types import AnySchema
 from openapi_spec_validator.settings import OpenAPISpecValidatorSettings
 from openapi_spec_validator.validation import keywords
+from openapi_spec_validator.validation.caches import CachedIterable
 from openapi_spec_validator.validation.decorators import unwraps_iter
 from openapi_spec_validator.validation.decorators import wraps_cached_iter
 from openapi_spec_validator.validation.decorators import wraps_errors
@@ -67,6 +68,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.keyword_validators_registry = KeywordValidatorRegistry(
             self.keyword_validators
         )
+        self._cached_errors: CachedIterable[ValidationError] | None = None
 
     def validate(self) -> None:
         for err in self.iter_errors():
@@ -83,15 +85,19 @@ def root_validator(self) -> keywords.RootValidator:
             self.keyword_validators_registry["__root__"],
         )
 
-    @unwraps_iter
-    @lru_cache(maxsize=None)
     @wraps_cached_iter
     @wraps_errors
-    def iter_errors(self) -> Iterator[ValidationError]:
+    def _iter_errors(self) -> Iterator[ValidationError]:
         yield from self.schema_validator.iter_errors(self.schema)
 
         yield from self.root_validator(self.schema_path)
 
+    @unwraps_iter
+    def iter_errors(self) -> Iterable[ValidationError]:
+        if getattr(self, "_cached_errors", None) is None:
+            self._cached_errors = self._iter_errors()
+        return self._cached_errors
+
 
 class OpenAPIV2SpecValidator(SpecValidator):
     schema_validator = openapi_v2_schema_validator
diff --git a/tests/integration/validation/test_validators.py b/tests/integration/validation/test_validators.py
index 17a347d2..e3d44f10 100644
--- a/tests/integration/validation/test_validators.py
+++ b/tests/integration/validation/test_validators.py
@@ -665,3 +665,33 @@ def test_failed(self, factory, spec_file):
 
         with pytest.raises(OpenAPIValidationError):
             OpenAPIV31SpecValidator(spec, base_uri=spec_url).validate()
+
+
+def test_validator_iter_errors_instance_caching():
+    spec = {
+        "openapi": "3.0.0",
+        "info": {"title": "Sample", "version": "1.0.0"},
+        "paths": {},
+    }
+    validator = OpenAPIV30SpecValidator(spec)
+    errors_1 = list(validator.iter_errors())
+    errors_2 = list(validator.iter_errors())
+    assert errors_1 == errors_2 == []
+
+
+def test_validator_instance_garbage_collected():
+    import gc
+    import weakref
+
+    spec = {
+        "openapi": "3.0.0",
+        "info": {"title": "Sample", "version": "1.0.0"},
+        "paths": {},
+    }
+    validator = OpenAPIV30SpecValidator(spec)
+    list(validator.iter_errors())
+    ref = weakref.ref(validator)
+    del validator
+    gc.collect()
+
+    assert ref() is None