1st Gen Blown Head Gasket...

With head gaskets, the overheating is a symptom of the the gasket failure, not the cause. 250K miles and 24 years, that's a lot of time and miles. Any gasket, over time, will fail. Now, if you let your engine overheat because you ran low on coolant or oil, then yes, overheating will, or can be the cause.

 

Well if that were correct every 1st gen Tacoma over 250k would have blown a head gasket. They dont just fail because 250k and age.

I’ve got 368,000 and 24 years no head gasket failure.
Pretty sure bad old acidic coolant is likely the culprit in OPs situation.

I change my coolant, use Toyota red, dilute it with distilled water and haven’t ever over heated. Things don’t usually break unless there is something wrong. Cracked heads or over heating or bunk gasket or bad old coolant or electrolysis eating the aluminum. However age and miles alone, is no reason a head gasket that hasn’t been compromised should fail.

 

Breaking news: even a non-disposable lifetime vehicle like a 1st gen Tacoma, still requires occasional maintenance and repairs.