diff --git a/service.c b/service.c
index ddf03bbf12..86406e8041 100644
--- a/service.c
+++ b/service.c
@@ -623,6 +623,10 @@ static int service_load_sysv_path(Service *s, const char *path) {
         /* Special setting for all SysV services */
         s->valid_no_process = true;
 
+        /* Don't timeout special services during boot (like fsck) */
+        if (!chars_intersect("12345", s->sysv_runlevels))
+                s->timeout_usec = -1;
+
         u->meta.load_state = UNIT_LOADED;
         r = 0;