diff --git a/systemd/systemd-lib.pl b/systemd/systemd-lib.pl
index fd9b3db2d..8cbe8a777 100644
--- a/systemd/systemd-lib.pl
+++ b/systemd/systemd-lib.pl
@@ -585,10 +585,11 @@ my ($name) = @_;
 return (0, $text{'systemd_ename'}) if (!valid_unit_name($name));
 my $out = backquote_logged(
 	"systemctl start ".quotemeta($name)." 2>&1 </dev/null");
-if ($? && $out =~ /journalctl/) {
+my $rv = $?;
+if ($rv && $out =~ /journalctl/) {
 	$out .= backquote_command("journalctl -xe 2>/dev/null");
 	}
-return (!$?, $out);
+return (!$rv, $out);
 }
 
 =head2 stop_unit(name)
diff --git a/systemd/t/run-tests.t b/systemd/t/run-tests.t
index 58a24136b..8dcae4e32 100644
--- a/systemd/t/run-tests.t
+++ b/systemd/t/run-tests.t
@@ -846,6 +846,15 @@ like(get_unit_root(), qr{^/(etc|usr/lib|lib)/systemd/system$},
          'dependency command uses full non-paged output');
 }
 
+# Failed starts must remain failures even when journal diagnostics succeed.
+{
+    local *main::backquote_logged = sub { $? = 256; return 'See journalctl for details'; };
+    local *main::backquote_command = sub { $? = 0; return 'Start failed'; };
+    my ($ok, $out) = start_unit('broken.service');
+    ok(!$ok, 'journal lookup cannot hide a failed start');
+    like($out, qr/Start failed/, 'failed start includes diagnostics');
+}
+
 {
     my @cmds;
     my $reloaded = 0;