diff --git a/test/units/testsuite-74.coredump.sh b/test/units/testsuite-74.coredump.sh
index 6a299ecbfb1..3910abe0ec1 100755
--- a/test/units/testsuite-74.coredump.sh
+++ b/test/units/testsuite-74.coredump.sh
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ printf '[Coredump]\nStorage=external' >/run/systemd/coredump.conf.d/99-external.
 "$MAKE_DUMP_SCRIPT" "$CORE_TEST_BIN" "SIGABRT"
 rm -fv /run/systemd/coredump.conf.d/99-external.conf
 # Wait a bit for the coredumps to get processed
-timeout 30 bash -c "while [[ $(coredumpctl list -q --no-legend $CORE_TEST_BIN | wc -l) -lt 4 ]]; do sleep 1; done"
+timeout 30 bash -c "while [[ \$(coredumpctl list -q --no-legend $CORE_TEST_BIN | wc -l) -lt 4 ]]; do sleep 1; done"
 
 coredumpctl
 SYSTEMD_LOG_LEVEL=debug coredumpctl
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ printf '[Coredump]\nStorage=external' >/run/systemd/coredump.conf.d/99-external.
 "${UNPRIV_CMD[@]}" "$MAKE_DUMP_SCRIPT" "$CORE_TEST_UNPRIV_BIN" "SIGABRT"
 rm -fv /run/systemd/coredump.conf.d/99-external.conf
 # Wait a bit for the coredumps to get processed
-timeout 30 bash -c "while [[ $(coredumpctl list -q --no-legend $CORE_TEST_UNPRIV_BIN | wc -l) -lt 4 ]]; do sleep 1; done"
+timeout 30 bash -c "while [[ \$(coredumpctl list -q --no-legend $CORE_TEST_UNPRIV_BIN | wc -l) -lt 4 ]]; do sleep 1; done"
 
 # root should see coredumps from both binaries
 coredumpctl info "$CORE_TEST_UNPRIV_BIN"
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ rm -f /tmp/core.{output,redirected}
 journalctl -b -n 1 --output=export --output-fields=MESSAGE,COREDUMP COREDUMP_EXE="/usr/bin/test-dump" |
     /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-coredump --backtrace $$ 0 0 6 1679509994 12345 mymachine
 # Wait a bit for the coredump to get processed
-timeout 30 bash -c "while [[ $(coredumpctl list -q --no-legend $$ | wc -l) -eq 0 ]]; do sleep 1; done"
+timeout 30 bash -c "while [[ \$(coredumpctl list -q --no-legend $$ | wc -l) -eq 0 ]]; do sleep 1; done"
 coredumpctl info "$$"
 coredumpctl info COREDUMP_HOSTNAME="mymachine"
 
diff --git a/test/units/testsuite-74.machinectl.sh b/test/units/testsuite-74.machinectl.sh
index 4adb1cd6373..3d8d07c87da 100755
--- a/test/units/testsuite-74.machinectl.sh
+++ b/test/units/testsuite-74.machinectl.sh
@@ -7,14 +7,10 @@ set -o pipefail
 # shellcheck source=test/units/assert.sh
 . "$(dirname "$0")"/assert.sh
 
-: >/failed
-
 at_exit() {
     if [[ -v NSPAWN_NAME && -e "/var/lib/machines/$NSPAWN_NAME" ]]; then
         rm -fvr "/var/lib/machines/$NSPAWN_NAME" "/etc/systemd/nspawn/$NSPAWN_NAME" "new"
     fi
-
-    return 0
 }
 
 trap at_exit EXIT
@@ -38,6 +34,3 @@ script -ec 'machinectl cat "$PWD/new"' /dev/null
 
 EDITOR='mv new' script -ec 'machinectl edit "$NSPAWN_NAME"' /dev/null
 printf '%s\n' '[Exec]' 'Boot=false' | cmp - "/etc/systemd/nspawn/$NSPAWN_NAME"
-
-touch /testok
-rm /failed