diff --git a/test/units/testsuite-04.journal.sh b/test/units/testsuite-04.journal.sh
index 88fab48b9a2..2c0c50f5b83 100755
--- a/test/units/testsuite-04.journal.sh
+++ b/test/units/testsuite-04.journal.sh
@@ -108,7 +108,8 @@ journalctl --sync
 [[ -z "$(journalctl -b -q -u silent-success.service)" ]]
 
 # Test syslog identifiers exclusion
-systemctl start verbose-success
+systemctl start verbose-success.service
+timeout 30 bash -xec 'while systemctl -q is-active verbose-success.service; do sleep 1; done'
 journalctl --sync
 [[ -n "$(journalctl -b -q -u verbose-success.service -t systemd)" ]]
 [[ -n "$(journalctl -b -q -u verbose-success.service -t echo)" ]]