diff --git a/src/components/nav/nav.ts b/src/components/nav/nav.ts
index 6a7ce589ae..63249fcca6 100644
--- a/src/components/nav/nav.ts
+++ b/src/components/nav/nav.ts
@@ -111,15 +111,15 @@ export class Nav extends NavControllerBase implements AfterViewInit, RootNode {
     this._hasInit = true;
 
     let navSegment = this._linker.initNav(this);
-    if (navSegment && navSegment.component) {
+    if (navSegment && (navSegment.component || navSegment.loadChildren)) {
       // there is a segment match in the linker
-      this._linker.initViews(navSegment).then(views => {
+      return this._linker.initViews(navSegment).then(views => {
         this.setPages(views, null, null);
       });
 
     } else if (this._root) {
       // no segment match, so use the root property
-      this.push(this._root, this.rootParams, {
+      return this.push(this._root, this.rootParams, {
         isNavRoot: (<any>this._app.getRootNav() === this)
       }, null);
     }
diff --git a/src/components/nav/test/nav.spec.ts b/src/components/nav/test/nav.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..de2c9ce51e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/components/nav/test/nav.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+import { Nav } from '../nav';
+
+import { GestureController } from '../../../gestures/gesture-controller';
+import { Keyboard } from '../../../platform/keyboard';
+import {
+  mockApp,
+  mockConfig,
+  mockDeepLinker,
+  mockDomController,
+  mockElementRef,
+  mockPlatform,
+  mockRenderer,
+  mockTrasitionController,
+  mockZone,
+} from '../../../util/mock-providers';
+
+describe('Nav', () => {
+  describe('ngAfterViewInit', () => {
+    it('should call initViews when segment has a component', (done: Function) => {
+      const nav = getNav();
+      const knownComponent = {};
+      const knownSegment = {
+        component: knownComponent
+      };
+      const knownViews = {};
+      spyOn(nav._linker, 'initNav').and.returnValue(knownSegment);
+      spyOn(nav._linker, 'initViews').and.returnValue(Promise.resolve(knownViews));
+      spyOn(nav, 'setPages');
+
+      const promise = nav.ngAfterViewInit();
+
+      promise.then(() => {
+        expect(nav._linker.initViews).toHaveBeenCalledWith(knownSegment);
+        expect(nav.setPages).toHaveBeenCalledWith(knownViews, null, null);
+        done();
+      }).catch((err: Error) => {
+        done(err);
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should call initViews when segment has a loadChildren string', (done: Function) => {
+      const nav = getNav();
+      const knownLoadChildren = 'someString';
+      const knownSegment = {
+        loadChildren: knownLoadChildren
+      };
+      const knownViews = {};
+      spyOn(nav._linker, 'initNav').and.returnValue(knownSegment);
+      spyOn(nav._linker, 'initViews').and.returnValue(Promise.resolve(knownViews));
+      spyOn(nav, 'setPages');
+
+      const promise = nav.ngAfterViewInit();
+
+      promise.then(() => {
+        expect(nav._linker.initViews).toHaveBeenCalledWith(knownSegment);
+        expect(nav.setPages).toHaveBeenCalledWith(knownViews, null, null);
+        done();
+      }).catch((err: Error) => {
+        done(err);
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should call push when root is set', (done: Function) => {
+       const nav = getNav();
+       const knownComponent = {};
+       nav.root = knownComponent;
+
+       spyOn(nav, 'push').and.returnValue(Promise.resolve());
+
+       const promise = nav.ngAfterViewInit();
+
+       promise.then(() => {
+        expect(nav.push).toHaveBeenCalled();
+        done();
+      }).catch((err: Error) => {
+        done(err);
+      });
+    });
+  });
+});
+
+function getNav() {
+  const platform = mockPlatform();
+  const config = mockConfig(null, '/', platform);
+  const app = mockApp(config, platform);
+  const zone = mockZone();
+  const dom = mockDomController(platform);
+  const keyboard = new Keyboard(config, platform, zone, dom);
+  const elementRef = mockElementRef();
+  const renderer = mockRenderer();
+  const componentFactoryResolver: any = null;
+  const gestureCtrl = new GestureController(app);
+  const linker = mockDeepLinker(null, app);
+  const trnsCtrl = mockTrasitionController(config);
+  const nav = new Nav(
+    null,
+    null,
+    app,
+    config,
+    platform,
+    keyboard,
+    elementRef,
+    zone,
+    renderer,
+    componentFactoryResolver,
+    gestureCtrl,
+    trnsCtrl,
+    linker,
+    dom
+  );
+  return nav;
+}
diff --git a/src/navigation/deep-linker.ts b/src/navigation/deep-linker.ts
index 9b6f19f0c0..eb411bfbef 100644
--- a/src/navigation/deep-linker.ts
+++ b/src/navigation/deep-linker.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { ComponentFactory, ComponentFactoryResolver } from '@angular/core';
 import { Location } from '@angular/common';
 
 import { App } from '../components/app/app';
-import { convertToViews, isNav, isTab, isTabs, NavLink, NavSegment, DIRECTION_BACK } from './nav-util';
+import { convertToViews, DIRECTION_BACK, isNav, isTab, isTabs, NavLink, NavSegment } from './nav-util';
 import { ModuleLoader } from '../util/module-loader';
 import { isArray, isPresent } from '../util/util';
 import { Nav } from '../components/nav/nav';
@@ -594,17 +594,21 @@ export class DeepLinker {
    * @internal
    */
   initViews(segment: NavSegment) {
-    const view = new ViewController(segment.component, segment.data);
-    view.id = segment.id;
+    const link = this._serializer.getLinkFromName(segment.name);
+    return this.getNavLinkComponent(link).then((component: any) => {
+      segment.component = component;
+      const view = new ViewController(component, segment.data);
+      view.id = segment.id;
 
-    if (isArray(segment.defaultHistory)) {
-      return convertToViews(this, segment.defaultHistory).then(views => {
-        views.push(view);
-        return views;
-      });
-    }
+      if (isArray(segment.defaultHistory)) {
+        return convertToViews(this, segment.defaultHistory).then(views => {
+          views.push(view);
+          return views;
+        });
+      }
 
-    return Promise.resolve([view]);
+      return [view];
+    });
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/src/navigation/test/deep-linker.spec.ts b/src/navigation/test/deep-linker.spec.ts
index f0f5cb94d9..17103bcf05 100644
--- a/src/navigation/test/deep-linker.spec.ts
+++ b/src/navigation/test/deep-linker.spec.ts
@@ -271,14 +271,22 @@ describe('DeepLinker', () => {
 
   describe('initViews', () => {
 
-    it('should create the ViewController for just the segment', () => {
-      // let segment = serializer.parse('/viewone')[0];
+    it('should return an array with one view controller when there isnt default history', (done: Function) => {
+      const knownSegment = {
+        id: 'idk',
+        name: 'viewone',
+        data: {}
+      };
+      const promise = linker.initViews(knownSegment);
 
-      // let views = linker.initViews(segment);
-      // expect(views[0].component).toEqual(segment.component);
-      // expect(views[0].id).toEqual('VIEWID');
+      promise.then((result: any[]) => {
+        expect(Array.isArray(result)).toBeTruthy();
+        expect(result.length).toEqual(1);
+        done();
+      }).catch((err: Error) => {
+        done(err);
+      });
     });
-
   });
 
   describe('initNav', () => {