diff --git a/src/V3LinkDot.cpp b/src/V3LinkDot.cpp
index 7fee470a9..0c088ffee 100644
--- a/src/V3LinkDot.cpp
+++ b/src/V3LinkDot.cpp
@@ -1912,7 +1912,7 @@ class LinkDotFindVisitor final : public VNVisitor {
                             // dtype comes from the other side.
                             VL_DO_DANGLING(varDtp->unlinkFrBack()->deleteTree(), varDtp);
                             findvarp->childDTypep(otherDtp->unlinkFrBack());
-                        } else if (otherDtp && varDtp
+                        } else if (m_statep->forPrearray() && otherDtp && varDtp
                                    && !(VN_IS(otherDtp, BasicDType)
                                         && VN_AS(otherDtp, BasicDType)->implicit())) {
                             // otherDtp and varDtp both non-nullptr and neither are implicit