3 prong outlet to 4 prong outlet?

Question

I want to upgrade my dryer outlet plug from 3 prong to 4 prong? Turned off power and open the outlet to disconnect the wires but only see 2 hot wires and 1 white wire but also some wires connected to the box itself.

I am missing the green/ground wire..what am i suppose to do?

Can i just hook up the 2 hot lines to X and Y and hook up the neutral to W and not have anything hooked up to the G

Answer 1

The wires connected to the box itself are the ground wires.  You can check this with a meter as you should have 120V from the ground wire to each hot wire and very little voltage (<1-2V) to the neutral (white).  If you prove it is the ground wire, hook it up to the new outlet.

Answer 2

it will run the dryer just fine without the ground wire but the ground helps protect you from shock.  If one of the hot wires made contact with the metal of the dryer it would energize any metal on the dryer and if you came up and touched it and you were grounded then it would give you one h**l of a shock prolly 30 amps.  It could kill you or burn you.  Depending on how old the wiring is and if the box is metal it may be grounded and a ground tail screwed to the box could solve the problem.  You may need to run a new wire from the box to the panel and that would be the best bet.