Ran out of fuel!

Hi Golf masters 
Hoping someone can help!

The clocks on my dash have been intermittent (work with a tap most of the time)
so never know how much is in the tank just make sure I put loads in when I go.
Anyway lent the car to my bro 
To go to a show yesterday and went to fill it back up today and on my way to the station ran out of fuel!!👀🤦‍♂️

Got new fuel put it in and eventually it ran again 
First of all not good (hunting low revs)
then ran sweet as a nut like normal
But then started running really lumpy again
like it was missing 
Or there was a flat spot on acceleration.
Managed to get it home and turned it off went to start it again and it didn't want to start. Then it would start and dye 
And then it wouldn't start at all.
I had a car before that was hydrolocked and it felt like that like 
Like fluid in the cylinder, like The engine couldn't compress something 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ just kept not letting me even turn it over! But if I left it for 10/15 mins it would start again but then die a few seconds after
Sorry about the long post and rubbish terminology and descriptions
Just trying to explain what it felt like 🤣
Has anyone encountered this before? Or had the same problem and might have an idea what's going on?
I've never had a k jet system before and obviously never ran out of fuel in it before

It's an 88 mk1 golf gti cabriolet ( DX engine no carb)
Thanks 

Check the oil for fuel in there

I will get chance about 12ish to have a look at it 
And I will check. 
You never know by some miracle with 24 hours for some fuel to evaporate and a bit of luck it might have sorted itself🤣
But I doubt it
I wondering in general, where the best place to start from logically in the situation? Maybe filter and go from there ?
I'm assuming other People must have run out of fuel before 
Is there a standard check list?
And cheers for the reply brother 

No fuel in the oil that I could tell mate 
Cheers also just realised from an earlier post 
You helped check whether it was a DX and couldn't find info as it was an import
Got the history back from VW and it is a DX engine 👍
Cheers mate 

UPDATE***
Hi 👋 
Put a post up yesterday about possibly running out of fuel and the car was running really funny/ wouldn't go. Felt like hydro locking but with fuel 
But it isn't that I think that is just the starter motor is on its way out!!🤦‍♂️
Took plugs out today and checked them 
It had obvs been running really rich as they were black! 
There's fuel going to the cylinders as it's wet and but it seems like it's not burning the fuel 
There is a spark but doesn't seem to be really strong and the fuel out of the exhaust stinks really strong!
Could it be something to do with the ignition timing or distributor timing?? 
I don't even know how they time the fuel injection!
It just turns over now wouldn't go at all earlier 😞

If anyone had any advice where to start that would be great 👍 
Not even sure if I did run out of fuel as gauge is temperamental but seems a bit too much of a coincidence to me!




Any gurus help would be greatly appreciated x

Try a new fuel filter and remove the spark plugs, give the plugs a good clean or if they are more than a few years old replace them for new ones.

Leave the plugs out and turn the engine over on the starter to get rid of any extra fuel left in the cylinders, replace the plugs and see what happens..

Hi mark1gls

I cleaned the gauze out in the tank pump and changed the fuel filter put new  spark plugs on it and it did turn over but it is running really rough like it is missing or has a flat spot 
Sounds a bit better if I rev slightly higher 
Could the meter head have got junk in it?
Is that even possible from low fuel if the filter was blocking bits from the tank ??
Took the meter head off and turned it on its side and the flap is moving and didn't look like it was caked in anything
Or a few people said the coil could have started to break 
But it seems a bit too much of a coincidence to me that it was low on fuel!
What are your thoughts on what I should do next 
And cheers for taking the time to reply brother 👍

Well when you run out of gas you can suck all kinds of crud out of the tank and shoot it through your system.
Cleaning it all back out is a Pain in the posterior.

Hi Briano
I'm not 100% I ran out of gas as the gauge is dodgy
And turned it off rather than it cutting out
But pretty sure I did!! As it was hovering into the red 

So far I have 
Inspected the tank (looked pretty clean)
Cleaned lifter pump gauze in tank
Checked there was fuel going to inlet if filter 
Changed filter 
Undone the banjo bolt to metering head and looked in 🤷‍♂️🤣
Took the metering head off air box and turned it on its side 
It all looked pretty clean and free
Changed the spark plugs as the spark looked weak
My mate says it could be the coil?
Would that make the car feel like it's shuddering/ missing?

I still think it's fuel
Today I was going to look at the WUR. And 5th injector to see if that's stuck open or something??

I don't know much about cars 
If you were in my situation what would you check next or 
Where would you start and work through until 
(Is there a procedure)

Cheers mate 

I am not great on CIS, I am more a Diesel or Digifant guy.
Between them I have about 40 years of wrenching on these guys.  

The big difference in US, vs English is in 90 over here we had 2 styles of Digifant Free USA which had Digifant II and California which had Digifant I , after about 91.5 it was Digifant II everywhere.   

I will tell you that over a few Decades of driving I have found that Grounds are the biggest part of all Electrical failure, that and water ingress.  

I would verify through testing that you have 0 Voltage drop on your Ground to Frame and then frame to engine.

One of the things I noticed for intermittent turning off whilst driving was Too many Keys, and fob hangers on a key ring.  Two of my Daughters complained that 2 of my rides just shut off for no reason.  Well The reason was 20 pounds of swinging Bling on their Key Rings.  in a turn or bumpy road they would pendulate  and switch the key off.  

Cleaning plugs is a good thing, but replacing them and the HV leads if unknown as to when they were replaced is a better thing.

Over HERE NGK plugs and wires ROCK, I got two sets of bad BOSCH wires once when trying to diagnose a bad or missing car.  Cutting to the Chase I had a bad set of HV leads to one Cylinder, and got two sets of Bosch Plats that one box had one bad plug, and the other set had 2.  Stopped using Bosch.

Coils do go bad
But verify your Grounds.