Adjusting Customer Session Length

[tomtom55]

I am using Zen Cart 1.5.3 and am having issues extending my customer session length. I have tried a few things including adding php_value session.gc_maxlifetime 86400 to my root .htaccess. I have also tried editing the $SESS_LIFE = 1440; variable in sessions.php. My session.gc_maxlifetime local and master stay set at 900 and 1400 respectively no matter what I try. I am not sure if those numbers should change but regardless, my session times out after the 15 min my local is set to. I have recently tried installing keepcart and although it appears to have installed successfully, my session still times out. I am thinking it must be something related to the server setup but do not know where to go from here. Any advice would be appreciated.

Also, just to clarify this is occurring during guest checkout and I do have COWOA installed.