My 2 year old whirlpool dryer has a 3 prong cord. My new house has a 4 prong. The dryer doesn't have a spot for 4 wires. The ground wire coming from the dryer is attached to the dryer itself. A new 4 pronged dryer cord has white, red, black, and green wires. Maybe the green wire hooks to the ground screw with the one coming from the dryer?
Electrical – 3 prong to 4 prong dryer cord change
electrical
Related Solutions
DO NOT connect the ground wire to the grounded (neutral) conductor, as this could lead to current flowing through the body of the dryer (and potentially through you).
The installation guide for the dryer will have wiring instructions for both 3, and 4 wire configurations. Check the manufacturers documentation for proper wiring, but I would say the first image is likely correct.
Instructions from random Maytag Installation Instructions (PDF)
3 Wire Cord
4 Wire Cord
Update:
After doing some research, and looking at dryer wiring diagrams. It turns out that the green/yellow wire is not a ground wire, it is a neutral to case bonding wire. When this wire is not in use (in a 4-wire installation for example), it is simply connected to the neutral terminal and is unused.
Assuming you are asking about US residential biphase 240 volt wiring (or equivelant), then there is nothing wrong with reversing the black and red wires.
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Best Answer
If you can remove the existing grounding wire from the grounding screw, then do that and connect your 4-prong's grounding wire to the screw.
I initially misunderstood your explanation of the existing grounding wire. If this is a wire coming from inside the dryer, then you'll likely need to connect it to the neutral lug once you've connected to the grounding screw a suitable ground from your new 4 prong cable. As said in a comment, your best bet is to consult the dryer's manual to verify this is the correct action for this step.