IPod/iTunes Sound Volume problems

Question

I listen to my iPod Mini on my car radio, and used to enjoy turning the music up loud sometimes. Now I cannot GET it loud, even though I have the volume on my radio and iPod set to the maximum. For audiobooks, I can no longer hear the words clearly over the sounds of traffic. The volume on the iPod used to match the volume of the radio. Now it doesn't -- if I should flip to the radio without lowering the volume, I get hit with a blast of sound.
I think I might have done something in iTunes that is causing this. I cut off Sound Check and the equalizer. I also raised the volume using the Get Info options. It doesn't seem to have made any difference for the iPod when I updated. I still can't hear it very well through my tape adapter on the car radio.
Have I done anything mentioned above to cause or fix this problem? If so, do I need to delete everything from the iPod and re-load it?

Answer 1

Gary,
There is a lot I don't know yet, but I definitely managed to raise the volume by cutting off the sound check and the equalizer when importing new stuff. As a test, I can now hear the words in an audiobook, although the volume is still on maximum for my iPod and car tape player. Unfortunately the old stuff still sounds too faint. (Is this iPod actually updating?)
There is a problem with my car tape player. I haven't bought a head cleaning kit yet, but plan to do so. I connected an FM transmitter and tested the sound -- it was a lot louder. (In my area, I cannot use an FM transmitter in the city because of FM interference. No empty stations. So I either need earphones or to make the tape player work. Or a new car
I don't know yet whether it's the Sound Check or Equalizer that makes the difference. I don't think I ever used Sound Enhancer.
You can raise the volume by selecting songs, going to "Get Info" and resetting the volume bar. This seems to make it louder on the Mac speakers. I cannot tell that anything is getting through to the iPod -- I simply don't hear it yet.
I don't know yet if importing when using Sound Check does anything permanent to the volume of the song. I hope not.