just had the jeep put on the scanner. nothing wrong with it and it's not throwing codes, but i just get 8.5 mpg on last tank. it seems to run fine, but obviously it isn't. it has had new plugs, new cat, new muffler, new coolant temp sensor. i'm out of guesses and everything is stock on it. i can't imagine the winter mix of gas would do this much to my mileage. any ideas? i'm ready to roll it down the hill.
1. You have larger tires and don't account for the error on the odometer (although should still not be getting 8.5mpg even with that error).
2. you have a hole in the tank or some of the lines are sipping out fuel when the engine is running (like having a micropore and that would spray mist out - but you should be able to smell the gas in that case, i say micropore as otherwise it would run like hell and you'd be able to see the gas pouring out).
3. you might have an issue with too much fuel pressure, i had my return line plugged and I was getting some bad mpg, easy to test on a YJ (not sure what you have) - unplug the return from the injector rail and blow in it.
you might want to test the fuel pressure and also maybe put a scanner on it and check the fuel trims.