diff --git a/src/core/automount.c b/src/core/automount.c
index 29543590e4..f82c8d0a40 100644
--- a/src/core/automount.c
+++ b/src/core/automount.c
@@ -59,6 +59,23 @@ static void automount_init(Unit *u) {
         UNIT(a)->ignore_on_isolate = true;
 }
 
+/* Nothing else can answer the requests the kernel already queued for us, and it keeps their processes
+ * blocked until we do. Make a failure to do so at least visible. The status is what the mount requests get:
+ * an expire request can only ever fail. */
+static void automount_release_requests(Automount *a, int status) {
+        int r;
+
+        assert(a);
+
+        r = automount_send_ready(a, a->tokens, status);
+        if (r < 0)
+                log_unit_warning_errno(UNIT(a), r, "Failed to release pending automount requests, ignoring: %m");
+
+        r = automount_send_ready(a, a->expire_tokens, -EHOSTDOWN);
+        if (r < 0)
+                log_unit_warning_errno(UNIT(a), r, "Failed to release pending automount expire requests, ignoring: %m");
+}
+
 static void unmount_autofs(Automount *a) {
         int r;
 
@@ -73,8 +90,7 @@ static void unmount_autofs(Automount *a) {
         /* If we reload/reexecute things we keep the mount point around */
         if (!IN_SET(UNIT(a)->manager->objective, MANAGER_RELOAD, MANAGER_REEXECUTE)) {
 
-                automount_send_ready(a, a->tokens, -EHOSTDOWN);
-                automount_send_ready(a, a->expire_tokens, -EHOSTDOWN);
+                automount_release_requests(a, -EHOSTDOWN);
 
                 if (a->where) {
                         r = repeat_unmount(a->where, MNT_DETACH|UMOUNT_NOFOLLOW);